Prada's pajamas lost in a maze

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In a moment of perfect fashion synergy, the artist Julian Schnabel showed up in purple pajamas at a l'Uomo Vogue dinner honoring his Milan exhibition, just after Miuccia Prada held a pajama party on her runway.

So those new Prada uniforms, dense with dusky floral patterns, weren't so baffling after all. ! They were the latest look for the humid summer nights that global warming seems already to have thrust on this city.

In general, the summer 2008 season, with its focus on dark suits, leather, nylon and the new hot (not to say "sweaty") favorite, Neoprene, suggest that clothes are no longer related to a specific season.

Since Miuccia Prada has always had a penchant for uniforms and declared after the show, "I have always loved pajamas," the new look was easy, without being floppy. The line was geometric, the tops tunic- or coat-length, or with the shirt tucked into pants for a more familiar Prada silhouette. Zip-up overalls were the fashion victim's version.

Patterns were sinuous irises and ivy leaves of the Belle Époque or a mixture of graphic checks and prints, mostly in silken materials. They went with shoes that were luminously modern in their glow of color-striped shiny leather. And there was another key accessory: the large watch on a wrist band.

"Very European — I don't know what the word is. Romantic? Elegant?" Prada said, struggling to define her aesthetic. The set boxed the audience into a maze with a labyrinth of hedged paths projected on the walls. And that is how it seemed on the runway: strong ideas, fine pieces, but a collection that had not quite found its way.

Men's fashion as a canvas for accessories has been a concept since shoe and handbag companies took over fashion in the 1990s. At Bottega Veneta, the designer Tomas Maier does that with particular ease, making his crumpled linen tailoring and faded Madras checks an artistic backdrop for leather sneakers or sandals with lattice inserts or tactile leather bags. Count on the art Biennale crowd to get this unflashy luxury look from cotton jackets to glazed linen three-piece suits. The ritzier resort wear seemed more forced: tailored shorts, zipper-off jacket sleeves and a sea-blue palette with melon and pearl pink. But With its monochrome, easy looks, this collection made rare sense of summer wear.

If you chopped off the Salvatore Ferragamo collection above the ankles, ignoring oxblood patent shoes and other classy footwear, would you immediately place the clotted cream three-piece suit with satin pocket handkerchief and gloves, or the crunchy silver raincoat, as quintessentially of this Florentine brand? Sure the fabrics are lush, touched with the sporty modernity of a metallic sweater or a nylon blouson. cq But were defining details so subtle that they did not show up on the catwalk, with its light box cylinder simulating splashing water?

In its hotels and home furnishings, Ferragamo is rich in leather handles and dark, grainy wood. It needs a similar image to define the clothes.

Alexander McQueen, an architect of runway drama, fell victim this week to his own invention. His show, held around the blue waters of a municipal swimming pool, encased fine cotton shirts, tailored coats and sportswear inspired by a 1960s photograph of surfers. If you could mentally strip away the post-Elvis hairdos dusted with silver sparkles and the giant surfboard backpacks, there was a collection of fine pieces, often beautifully worked, like the shirt with a snaking chain of patchwork. The water theme brought waving blue patterns and shiny, sexy, sporty wet suits — as well as water- soaked black suits for the finale.

But the profound and often disturbing edge of McQueen McQueen's profound and often disturbing edge seemed lost — especially with the slogan patterns and cartoon images that might be cute for Tokyo's Harajuku bands, brands?//no, bands. mjs. but seemed gimmicky as a fashion statement.

Since Valentino's heart is with his 45th anniversary celebrations in Rome next month — and the award he was scheduled to receive there this week — he wisely eschewed a menswear show for an installation of juicy guys in the tailored suits once worn at sundown in vacation resorts. They propped up a bar where dancers from the Paris Lido shook their breasts and their feathers. For those who took their eyes off the performance, there were elegant blazers, striped suits and polka dots, which are a mild trend of the season.

Energetic sportswear is a mood of the moment. The rhythm and blues soul singer John Legend and the "Spider- Man" actor James Franco joined the stellar front row at Emporio Armani, but it was the Italian sports heroes who reinforced the patriotic spirit of a collection that was, in the designer's own words, "crazy for Italy." A backdrop of Renaissance statues introduced clothes more body conscious than the floppy freedom more familiar from Armani. It was based on pants with a curve articulating the thighs and narrowing at the ankles, where there were jodhpur buttons or straps left loose.

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