MILAN, Jan 15, 2006/ FW/ --- Vivienne Westwood has always been a bit of an enigma and this doesn’t look like changing any time soon. Enfant terrible may not be a term easily associated with someone who is getting used to meeting the Queen of England; yet, what we saw on the runway was as full of contradictions as the designer herself.

Some looks seemed to have been conceived with the balance sheet in mind, while we can only assume that others are destined for those who are out of theirs. This of course is pure Westwood and what we love her for. After all, the designer who invented punk and brought bondage gear to the runway will always be afforded room for experimentation and quite rightly so.

Of course all the elements of a normal Westwood show were there – politics, tartan, and men in skirts– but what stuck in the mind was the chic glossiness of modish suits realized in a palette of gray ranging from almost black to flannel grey, set over tone-on-tone shirts and ties.

The color scheme in general was quite sober with the muted tones of grey, navy and petrol blues and burgundy setting the mood along with pastel pink and touches of faded gold just for good measure.

Tartan and argyle motifs featured heavily but with the silhouettes comprising of ragged drapes or toga wraps, the effect was more Braveheart than Prince Charles on a weekend in Scotland.

Fur featured also with ostensibly un-worked skins hung nonchalantly over the shoulders, the look being completed with charcoal woolen stockings and matching elbow length gloves. Elsewhere, the same amorphous logic was applied to modern streetwear with a square cut jacket, still in a shining metallic grey, incorporating a hood which spanned its entire width to producing an effect akin to a monk’s habit.

Sometimes barbarian and at times urbane, Westwood once again presented a collection for the man who refuses to be categorized. In her own image then, and a very fine one it is too.

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood