The Best Runway Looks From Milan Fashion Week Spring 2017

The spare silhouettes and layers of any Missoni collection are deceptively simple. Simply shaped, perhaps, but intricately constructed. A knit is not just any knit, and Angelo Missoni knows this. So do the leagues of women who have been faithful to the brand for generations.

For spring, space-dyed knits were the news. To get technical, each skein of yarn had multiple color ways in it — not just the one that novice knitters like you and I use. So lining up those patterns to create color blocks, zig zags and stripes is no easy feat.

The collection was inspired by a campaign photograph Mario Testino took of a model in repose wearing Missoni Fall 1997 — she was in a relaxed space-dyed dress. This was updated with modern color pairings, a few teeny-weeny bikinis and an all-round sporty vibe.

Yet even the monotone looks offered something special to Missoni's knit wits. Case in point: A blue-green t-shirt dress had at least four or five different weaves. Grannie sweaters and scarves, this is not.

There was a faint hippie vibe to it all — fluid dresses and tank numbers. Like you'd wear to a festival or to throw over a bikini while lunching on a yacht in Italy.

Spring was the first Salvatore Ferragamo collection without Massimiliano Giornetti's direction. And just as other houses are managing without a brand name creative director, so did Ferragamo, which showed a solid lineup of sculpted ladylike dressing with flares of masculine-feminine. And it should be noted that Ferragamo has tapped celebrated young shoe designer Andrew Paul to focus on its footwear, starting next season. Meaning, the brand that was launched on incredible shoes is now building that business up again.

But this collection will keep Ferragamo faithful politely dressed in the meantime. The m.o. here was volume on top and svelte below. This balance showed through on gently pumped-up sleeves and high-waisted skirts and pants or dresses with pleated waists.

The design team experimented with plisse pleats, printed in florals. While shoes were an homage to the brand's famous platforms. Then, they were the giddy rainbow shoes. Now, reworked in tonal neutrals.

Bright blues and reds popped against olive drab and tons of brown, and felt like a good place for the design team to launch from for next season — color.

Another interesting note were the layers of lace, seen on white shirts under bibs, fluted skirts and trimming ribbed dresses. It was delicate yet offered a graphic counter to the straightforward tonality of the rest of the collection.

Consuelo Castiglione was obsessed with architectural abstracts for Marni's spring collection. Also, the fanny pack, which she blew up to oversized proportions and doubled up. It was hands-free dressing on overdrive (except when the width knocks everything down in its path)...

A series of soft whites and creams balanced the architectural angles and off-kilter layers of her cotton jackets and trenches, while femininity was introduced via draped, pleated and tied printed dresses that were ultra pretty in an unexpected way.

Red and pink brought a pop of color to the proceedings in belted dresses with placement slits, exaggerated sleeves and straps. This was Marni at its most esoteric.

If Castiglione is doing ruffles, layers and pleats, you can bet she won't do it the way everyone else is. V-neck "sexy" dresses had more volume and layers, because this isn't about overt sex appeal. Other dresses featured accordion pleats, which are having a moment this season, with their tight ridges adding extra dimension to clothes that already pulled angles.

No, the Marni woman wants to look separate from the rest of the pack. Her bags are bigger and bolder this seasons, tied with knots, and her shoes pointier. Her earrings don't match — she wants to wear big Lucite chandeliers. And as for LBDs, she'd rather wear pieced-together panels and a scooped-out skirt.

Set against a giant marquee that read Tropico Italiano and a catwalk lined with bright palm trees, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana brought the carnivale to Milan. The palm trees glowed, matching the tiaras and heeled sandals that also lit up. This time, they bookended their collection with a parade of dancing models, all wearing D&G t-shirts and boogying with each other and the front row.

The designers wore their love of all things Italian on their sleeves, dresses, hats, bags and shoes. Who needs wallpaper florals when you can have wallpaper Venetian glass wine goblets, pasta, fish and gelato cones instead? Kitschy, yes. But also irresistibly fun, especially on chic sheath dresses or fit-and-flare looks for day. Like a nod to Warhol's Campbell soup piece, a model walked out in a Pomodori label dress.

Another familiar Dolce & Gabbana trope is religious iconography, seen here as images of saints printed on t-shirts, gauzy blouses, A-line skirts, boleros and pajama suits. The team also sent out denim, which had to be Gabbana-fied with fringe tassels, heavy embroidery and sequins. If ever denim was ok for evening cocktails, you could consider these jeans.

All of Dolce & Gabbana's favorite women were here, from the hot widows in funereal black lace, the pious pretties, the floral bombshells and the sweet innocents still into ruffles and frills.

As usual, it was an epic party, with clothes to match, celebrating all the facets of Italy, from all things gluten and wine, to Mediterranean fish and an abundance of roses and over-the-top vita bella.