Roberto Menichetti s hobbyhorse is the marriage of high-tech materials to sportswear staples, and this season found him back in the well-worn saddle. He called the collection Essentialism, and his models, with their scrubbed faces and stark center parts, contributed to the minimalist feel, as did a palette of navy, khaki, and white, enlivened here and there by metallics. The classics worked best; the strict coats especially. Two camel numbers, one tied at the neck, another a topper with cuffed sleeves, stood out. So did the blue trench worn by Eva Riccobono. A gray dress enlivened with embroidered polka dots (or, in Menichetti parlance, "modules") was also interesting. But as "intelligent" as Menichetti s fabrics might be, they can seem stiff on the body. His exercises in design are always clever, but the emotional component is sometimes hard to locate.
