And all the finishing touches…

You’re going to want to zoom in on Milan Fashion Week’s best accessories, says Emily Cronin

Fashion shows are all about the dress, the coat, the look of the season – or are they? At Milan Fashion Week, the most engrossing elements of many collections turned out to be the accessories.

Which makes sense. For as much as we’re supposed to regard clothes as the main event, most luxury brands rely on sales of handbags – and shoes, scarves, sunglasses, fragrances, jewellery et al – to boost their bottom lines. Whether this is stated (when Michael Kors bought Versace in 2018, the company said it would seek to raise the share of revenue from footwear and accessories to 60 per cent from 35), you can surmise a lot about how important the accessories are based on their prominence and multiplicity within the shows.

That could be why designers suddenly seem so keen to dress women’s heads. Prada, whose cushioned headbands have been one of the most surprising breakout accessories of recent seasons, went back to bands with a new, harderedged version. The glossy metal discs resembled baby haloes, complete with the all-important Prada logo. Fendi entered the headband fray with a flipped take: a padded band that hugged the back of the head and ended in curved points above each ear. From the front, these looked like pushed-up earmuffs; from the side and back, they framed Sam Mcknight’s “pretzel meets a walnut whip” updos to perfection.

Ferragamo’s contribution was to turn the bow from the front of the house’s classic Vara pumps into a most refined hair clip.

Then there were all the bags having babies. Instead of showing a single handbag per look, designers presented litters of them. At Prada, Max Mara, Versace and Bulgari, micro-bags came looped on to the handles of full-sized mother-bags. Because why force a

customer to choose between a micro-bag and a maxi-bag when she’d probably enjoy one of each?

Also hitching a ride on the handbags were fancy water bottle holders (Max Mara showed versions in embossed leather and teddy-coat plush).

Belts, including some delectable rope-style cinchers at Max Mara, jangled with still more additions.

At Fendi, London-based accessories brand Chaos furnished belts with “tech jewellery” pieces like gold-mesh smart-earphone pouches and smartwatch key chains.

Any bags that weren’t hubs for other accessories were knitted or deliciously squishy, as at Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega Veneta.

The shoes provided a harder edge, with squared-off toes at Jimmy Choo, graphic Cuban-heeled boots at Casadei, and platforms returning to prominence at Gucci and Moschino. It was almost enough to make you forget about the clothes.