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Alta Roma: Still Living The Dolce Vita

It sweltered in Rome this week, yet the clothes on the runway of Alta Roma, the city’s fashion season, were sturdy enough to withstand a gale force wind and classical enough to fit into a repeat of La Dolce Vita, set in the same date as the original.

Python pants, curvaceous double-face cashmere jackets and gigantic taffeta gowns swept down the catwalks in Rome, clothes for gals who don’t so much need a limousine as a carriage in which to get around.

A curious amalgam of alta moda - that’s the Italian version of haute couture - and avant-garde experimentation by young hopefuls, AltaRoma is a state-backed project to create a dynamic season in the Eternal City, and one that shows signs of working.

Most critics rated Sunday evening’s show by Fausto Sarli as the season’s strongest. Inspired by one of nature’s mystery, the crop circle, the show had a curvy, retro futurist quality whether with cashmere apple-shaped jackets or mega frilled Art Deco columns for evening. Plus the workmanship was first rate, and the cutting, like a revealing off the shoulder coatdress, admirable.

Also impressing were Gattinoni, a 74-year-old house whose creative director Guglielmo Mariotto favored mellifluous mink jackets with sleeves ending at the elbow and delightful patchwork cashmere tweed boleros or redingotes with courtly trim. Frayed fabric sling backs also looked great, as did multi-ruffled evening gowns where gaining attention was the key point of wearing the clothes. His is a tricky fashion – the little black dress came with a built on cape – but it had a certain Mediterranean panache one could only applaud.

Understated is not an Alta Moda tradition as was evident at the 40-minute long show by Raffaella Curiel, who herself took a five minute bow – a record in our experience for designer catwalk tour. Mega padded riding jackets, knitted fur boleros and flounced Paisley pleated skirts all look warm enough for a Finnish winter, and were in stark contrast to the stifling heat in the Borgo Santo Spirito in Sassia, a charming complex that boasts the longest Renaissance room in Rome, and is where Valentino staged his famed weekend of arriverderci last year.

And in weirdly provincial moments, both Mariotto and Curiel actually appeared on their own runways pre show to excuse late starts, something no designer in Paris or Milan would ever dream of doing.

On Wednesday, couturier Renato Ballestra sent out a jaunty collection of beautifully embroidered boucle wool mini jackets, golden silk columns and a very fine “swan” feather and chiffon wedding dress.

“The idea is to celebrate the beauty of women,” Ballestra told FWD at a post-show party on a superb riverboat named IV built on the Tiber and floated down the never very deep river to below Ponte Sisto, Rome’s beautiful stone walking bridge to Trastevere.

One could not fault the workmanship seen in Rome, but far too often the collections seemed caught in a time warp, as elderly designers recreated a moment that we all already knew too well. This is fashion with a capital F, where the clothes are designed to make it clear you’ve spent a lot of money on them.

Indeed shows in Rome can seem more like a social guide to has just gotten plastic surgery than a prediction of what women will be wearing in the future. Yet, AltaRoma would appear to have plenty of potential, especially as no city has more beautiful buildings and locations for shows.

“Our goal is clear: building up AltaRoma to be an important season on the international calendar,” explained CEO Adriano Franchi, who pulled in sponsors as diverse as Lancia and L’Oreal, and invited in a score of foreign editors to boost coverage. The season also featured still life presentations, notably by Mila Schon, an exhibition of famed Italian fashion photographer Pasquale De Antonis and a major Bottega Veneta in-store event, Knot – A Retrospective.

Another oddity about Alta Roma is the way so many people smile and chat through shows here: Front row at most shows, though in an industry devoted to glamour, are often glum affairs, where nobody peeps up a word once the first look hits the catwalk.

The season got off to a strong start with a joint show by the finalists in Who Is On Next, the talent spotting competition jointly organized by AltaRoma and Italian Vogue. Throughout the week, emerging designers staged their collections in the auditorium of Viale de Coubertin, a revamped show space in the athletes’ village built for the 1960 Rome Olympics. That’s were Bianca Gervasio presented a Woolmark-sponsored, Eco-tricot collection of conceptualist wool dresses that marked her out as a talent with a fresh approach.

But our favorite fashion moment of the week was a long way from any catwalk. Entitled Molino, it featured a half dozen hip young accessories designers first noticed by Who Is On Next, who presented their wares inspired by and staged in the quirky Museo Pietro Canonica in the center of Villa Borghese. Structuralist shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood, who was nabbed in May to be the director of Pollini’s accessories division, showed amazing wood block platforms, while others offering neat ideas were the talented Russian creator Max Kibardin and one Nicole Brundage, Texas born but Italian based.

All told, there were some 20 runway shows, though Molino seemed to point the way ahead for AltaRoma. If this season is to realize its potential the future must involve tapping into a younger generation and attracting the odd mega international design name top create more of a splash.

For the biggest event of the whole week was the Gucci cruise show on top of Rome’s highest hill, Il Gianicolo, and it was not even on the official calendar.

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