“Become your best self, but keep playing,” is Sergio Rossi's dictum for the Fall Winter 2011-2012 collection by Creative Director, Francesco Russo, whose fun and fanciful collection was inspired this season by the playful spirit of Carnival, Harlequins and night butterflies.

 


“One protects one’s self by disguise,” says Russo. "For me, the chrysalis symbolizes supreme femininity. I tried to evoke metamorphoses from the most natural to the most urban; from the most animal to the most sophisticated.” What this amounted to was a colorful and slightly cuckoo collection of footwear (organically curled details at the toe here, a winking butterfly charm affixed to the ankle of a pump there) whimsical enough to give Nicholas Kirkwood a run for his money.