All the latest news and gossip from Milan fashion week on the Style blog

At last, a spat the fashion world can sink its teeth into – and one involving two of its key players. Yesterday, at an apparently innocuous press conference announcing his forthcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Giorgio Armani managed to lob a backhanded insult at Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue.

Wondering aloud why “so many people dislike Wintour”, he pointed out that he had no problem with the woman who inspired The Devil Wears Prada – and then went on to illuminate just what those non-existent problems were. “I was told she once said, ‘The Armani era is over’,” he said. “I hope that’s not true.” To the bemusement of all those present (this is an industry in which few speak their minds publicly – there’s too much money at stake) he then ruminated on her support of the American fashion industry, vis-a-vis what he perceives to be her lack of support for Italian fashion.

This would be the same Anna Wintour with whom he is co-hosting this year’s pre-exhibition gala – an A-list occasion that has become one of the most glamorous social events in the world. Oh to be a fly on the wall when they meet to discuss placements.

Of the hundreds of shows that take place each season, there are maybe ten that make a difference to the way women will dress in the coming months and years, inspiring the rest of the industry, from high street to other catwalk collections, and ultimately affecting the way people furnish their homes and the colours that become the wallpaper to our lives.

Marni is one of those shows. Although its recent dalliance with techno-fabrics – printed rubbers and shiny vinyls to name some of the more obviously identifiable – has made it a harder sell, the Marni aesthetic can still be seen everywhere, whether it’s in this summer’s clumpy patent sandal or the current craze for resin cuffs and necklaces.

Next winter’s highly copiable accessories include toeless boots, sequined detachable necklaces-come-ties and resin sunglasses. Meanwhile, those industrial finishes have vaporised, leaving behind something more obviously enticing.

Brushed silks and gauzy wools in dirty pinks, raspberry, deep duck egg blue, greys, camel and emerald made for combinations not seen anywhere else, while the softer fabrics allowed for increasingly sophisticated layering, with rounded cuts juxtaposing with straight, masculine ones.

A blouse with pin-tucked puff sleeves, reminiscent of a debutante’s ball dress from the 1930s or 40s, contrasted with hipster, cropped-at-the-ankle trousers. A cap-sleeved belted straight coat (with slits for armholes) was worn over a textured tunic, on top of a chiffon blouse. The overall effect was idiosyncratic and utterly charming.

Last season the back-drop to Roberto Cavalli’s show was Versailles. This season it looked like Versailles again. But his clothes had a bit of a Russian theme, so maybe it was one of the Tsar’s palaces – hopefully a summer one, because these sheer chiffons, suspended from the wispiest of spaghetti straps weren’t built to withstand a winter in the South of France, let alone Moscow. At least the coats were leather, mixed with some kind of fur, printed to look like leopard, and embroidered to look like a baboushka’s rose-pattered shawl – yes, all on the same coat.

You could see Cavalli’s love of sexiness engaged in a mighty battle with his feeling that it might be time to do something a bit more classily romantic. However, both impulses emerged the worse for wear.

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