Alto Moc/o, Italian Style

While the French consider fashion every bit as momentous an affair as, say, an affair, the Italians take it all with a grain of saltimbocca. The results, as last week's showings of spring and summer collections proved, may never raise hemlines in Duluth or necklines in Dubuque, but they did raise an eyebrow here and there and clear round the world.

First came Florence, the boutiques and the gags. Glans covered one pair of pants with another (toreador on the bottom, pantaloons on top), while Ava-golf finished off a long knit dinner dress with two balloons (slit to accommodate feet), left it to Pucci to put fans at the tail ends of a linen evening suit. There was Fabiani's transparent black chiffon dress, dubbed (by Fabiani) "the sexiest in Italy," Micia's shift made out of black poker chips, Trico's black knit, orange-bordered at-home outfit (complete with a ring to be worn on the hostess' toe). And from Lucrezia came hip-hugging chiffon pants and matching tops. Not to mention her lattice-ribboned beach dress, designed to be worn over backless bikinis, which may never be boffo in the stores but so captured the fancy of one German male buyer that he craned his neck too far, lost balance and wound up literally rolling in the aisles.

Rome was something else again, and the "else" in translation read "glamour." From Forquet's flowing saris to De Barentzen's dirndl-skirted rain dress to Lancetti's denim and organdy evening gown, elegance was clearly the theme of the day. And of the night, too. thanks to Top Designer Princess Irene Galitzine, whose patio pajamas (patterned in mauve and pea-green poppies) and open-front, open-back nightgowns (layer-wrapped to conceal seams) stopped the show in Rome, but will only start it somewhere else.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.