A Different Kind of Purist

MILAN, Italy — Vienna-born Arthur Arbesser, another transplant to Italy, is a purist of a wholly different nature: dry and slightly twisted in that charmingly brainy Austrian kind of way. He loves uniforms, angular cuts and noble materials mixed with frankly odd ones. The show Arbesser presented yesterday in a tiny garage put him back on track after last season's rather unconvincing romantic detour.

Setting aside the press notes, which cited artist Paul Borremans and his method of decontextualisation as inspiration, the show was an interesting conceptual and sartorial exercise in deconstructing and altering the uniform. That meant mean tailoring, skirts sliced into aprons, metallic touches and the odd shot of saffron velvet. At times the styling was a tad heavy, but a green loden coat of perfect proportions was an indicator that Arbesser's own brand of twisted classicism has lots of real life potential. He's here to stay.