Jean-Luc Godard s Bande à Part and François Truffaut s Jules et Jim were touchstones for Gaia Trussardi s new Fall collection. The restless, rebellious spirits of Anna Karina and Jeanne Moreau s characters seeped into her best clothes, which took their proportions and their patterns from menswear. A shearling bomber big enough to curl up and fall asleep in had a casual confidence, and Gaia had an easy way with a Prince of Wales check blazer and tweed pants. A pair of leather dresses, on the other hand, could have used some finessing, and why so many miniskirts? The Trussardi family business is one of Italy s ultimate heritage houses, with a century-plus history of leather goods artisanship. This collection didn t measure up to that past in a convincingly rich way. Figuring out how to amp up the luxury factor will be the first of Gaia s challenges for the future.
