Moschino matadors take to Milan catwalks

Bullfighter and flamenco dancer outfits took to the catwalks Friday for the latest Moschino collection at Milan Fashion Week, while Antonio Marras brought out designs of maids dressed up as mistresses.

The Moschino designs featured distinctive matador jackets in cream, black and gold that were stitched with heart shapes and embroidery, as well as long billowing lace skirts on models topped by elaborate Spanish-style fascinators.

Dominant themes were the juxtaposition of black and gold colours, as well as the purity of the white beachwear outfits, giving the spring-summer 2012 collection a retro film quality that has been a feature of the Milan shows.

The ever-original Marras also dug into the past for a collection inspired by French playwright Jean Genet's 1947 play "The Maids" in which two housemaids engage in sadomasochist games imitating the maid-mistress power divide.

The show began with a phone ringing and a voice from the film version of the play saying: "It's my turn to be Madame!" as models showed off outfits resembling maid uniforms adapted to look like the get-ups of bourgeois ladies.

Pleated skirts - a trend for next year emerging at Milan Fashion Week - were one of the highlights of the collection, as well as cream dresses with black and red flower patterns resembling Japanese woodblock prints.

Green skirts, trousers and belts also featured heavily in the show, which concluded to enthusiastic applause with Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" as screens lifted to reveal models posed like mannequins in a showroom.