FLORENCE, Italy
A full moon to highlight the romantic Florentine skyline, a manicured garden with marble statues and a front-row mix of nobility and celebrity–there could not have been a more perfect setting for designer Diane von Furstenberg’s European runway debut.
Dubbed “La Petite Valise” (the little suitcase), the pre-spring collection 2008-2009, speaks of globe-trotting, with stops in London, Venice and Florence, as depicted in the floral and geometic prints, from the postcard views to maps, hotel keys, luggage and passports.
Overall, the collection of 62 outfits was reminiscent of the well-dressed (and well-heeled) young traveler of the 1950s and 1960s–someone with an “Ivy-league meets Riviera attitude,” as the designer says in her fashion notes.
Models wearing leather platform sandals and floral headbands walked down the circular synthetic grass runway in easy-to-pack shirt-dresses, ruffled shifts that don’t wrinkle, all-purpose jackets and cardigans and ultra-soft chiffon evening wear. Pants range from palazzo pajama to hot pants, with cropped Capris and knitted denim jeans in between. The flat envelope bag accompanied most of the outfits.
Guests were served at long country tables decorated with herbs planted in terra-cotta pots and lit up with candles in glass jars.
