If there s one thing that can be said about the Antonio Berardi woman, it s that she likes a leggy dress. Berardi was quick to intuit the feeling for miles-above-the-knee two seasons ago, and he appears to have achieved the near-impossible feat of inching it up even further for Cruise. Still, with scarcely more than a yard to play with in the distance between shoulder and thigh-top, what leeway can there be for newness? Berardi s solution is a move away from tourniquet-tight hourglass to a silhouette with a roomier, more covered top—half t-shirt, half cape, in some cases—and the cling shifted to the hip. "We played a little bit with volume for a less restricted approach," he says, "less precise, but more real." With all this abbreviation, it still takes deft moves to avoid trashiness, but there s something just classy enough in Berardi s choice of midnight blue textured paillettes and pastel animal print that lets him get away with it.
