Golden Summer for Italian Fashion 2012

MILAN (AP) - Designers are getting out the gold for next summer.

Metallic sheens have shown up in spring/summer preview showings on everything from jewelry to shoes to sequined outfits.

Heels are less aggressive than in summers past, with the sandal the preferred footwear.

Many of the clothes are without season although colors tend to be pastels, and soft summery shades of yellow, blue, coral, pink and a gamut of beige.

More than one designer has harkened back to the 1920s with low waistlines and pleats the favorite expression.

Designers are leaning toward the ladylike, emphasizing dresses and skirts over trousers. Shorts will be a staple of the next summer season, like this year, and not only at the beach.

One brand-new look is a bodysuit, seemingly inspired by the one-piece Beauty Queen swimsuits of a more modest era, that can be worn on its own with heels pageant-style.

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MOSCHINO

The Moschino trunk show stops in Spain for next year's warmer weather - and out come toreador hats, embroidered capes, mariachi jackets, crinoline skirts and gilded Flamenco platforms.

The spring-summer 2012 womenswear collection shown Friday was the latest round of mingling fantasy and fact - a creative trademark of the brand.

Thus the Torero cape becomes urban, shortened and worn with a pair of shorts or a miniskirt, or the slender pants reminiscent of the arena become contemporary when paired with a mariachi jacket turned into a biker jacket.

Gold, a recurring trend this week in Milan, pops up everywhere in the Moschino collection, from the flashy jewelry to the sequined flamenco dress to the heart-shaped prints and gilded footwear.

The brand founded in the 1980s by the late Franco Moschino likes to play with words as well as clothes. Each season it offers new food for fashion thought. "Make Up Not War" is next summer's slogan printed or stitched on several outfits in the collection.

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ETRO

Etro combined soft silhouettes and bright pop colors against cooler backgrounds for next spring and summer women's wardrobes, punctuated by bold geometric patterns and dramatic styles.

The designer notes say the collection aims to suggest the new Jazz Age, and there was plenty on display during Friday's preview show to recall the Roaring '20s.

Dresses were either dropwaisted or without any waist at all. Skirts were pleated or swishing. And flowing dresses of the simplest cut were layered underneath with pleated or frilly slips for a very feminine look.

Flapper-inspired dresses offered a simple interoperation of the era in plain black-and-white, set off by slicked back hair.

But designer Veronica Etro also emboldened the look, deconstructing its signature prints to emphasize curves. And large cutouts on the sides and shoulders along with plunging necklines and dangerously low backs added drama to the collection.

Hemlines brushed the knee, but also fell to mid-calf and floor-length - as in a dramatic, flowing black-lavender-and-gold gown with folds and pleats that caress the shape.

Not all the looks required jewelry. When they did, earrings were large geometric shapes in metal and stone.

Shoes were flat or high-heeled strappy sandals, or metallic high-heeled sneakers.