Though "put a bird on it" has become shorthand for a kind of hipster-endorsed brand of twee, there are still creative, unsettling ways to put the avian into fashion. Angela Missoni s investigations into ornithology pointed the way. Birds made their first appearance on her runway for Spring, where, in abstract print, they flapped over dresses, lending a bit of Hitchcockian creepiness. For Pre-Fall, there was less menace, but still something otherworldly about the way she cut jacket sleeves above the elbow to resemble folded wings, and layered tiers of scallop-shaped petals, like the rounded edges of feathers, to make skirts, tops, and shrugs.
Overall, the Pre-Fall collection found Angela more in her element than she was during the experiments of Spring. Shapes emphasized movement and swing: trapeze dresses and A-line coats; wide, swishy trousers; and long, pleated skirts. The brilliant colors that are a Missoni hallmark were dimmed a bit, to an array of blacks, whites, and grays, touched up here and there with coral and turquoise. But texture and pattern stepped into the void. A long, ombré shift in guipure lace worn over Missoni s famous space dye gave an effect that looked to be sparkling and dissolving at once. It was slightly surreal, which was fitting, given one of the collection s inspirations: the bird-woman paintings of the great German surrealist Max Ernst. Therein lies the Italia/Portlandia difference. Missoni s women aren t wearing birds, they re half bird themselves. With fur hoods atop their heads and fur-tufted gloves covering arms, it wasn t hard to believe.
