Maurizio Pecoraro is one of Milan's most baroque designers. He can't resist the romance of sequins, nor, ahem, the siren call of gold and silver Lurex. In a season of don't-mess-with-me biker babes, he really had a chance to drive home his uniquely frilled and furbelowed message—and the grand seventeenth-century Palazzo Litta, where his show was held, was well chosen to provide a helpful assist. A nail-studded charcoal gray suit and a black bubble coat with stiff ruffles curling down the front were among the most inventive pieces. But a strong hand with embellishments does not a cohesive statement make, and the clothes had a hard time living up to the extravagantly sumptuous setting. Until the finale, that is, when Pecoraro sent out a parade of models in sharp-looking tuxedo pants and embellished black or ivory blouses, each of them different and each a little gem.
