One of the stand-out collections of Milan, not to mention the entire Spring 2013 season, is Bottega Veneta. Tomas Maier nails it every time, and my respect, admiration and appreciation of his work grows with every collection. While the rest of the Italians were stuck somewhere in the late 1960’s, the Bottega Veneta offering was distinct and above the trend.

We’ve seen a lot of below-the-knee skirts this season- everyone from Proenza to Narciso to Burberry jumped on the bandwagon. But Maier did them best here. The silhouettes were perfect: balanced, flattering, fresh. As usual the level of craft surpassed most ready-to-wear, the fabric choices were sophisticated and visionary and the color palette superb. The clothes he showed were strong, yet feminine which is basically exactly where and what I want to be all the time. A++ for a brilliant Spring show. -RS (Images via Vogue.com)