MILAN, Italy — What are the chances? On the same day as Max Mara's Ian Griffiths served up a nautically-themed collection with a Jean Cocteau connection, Massimo Giorgetti did exactly the same thing for his debut at Emilio Pucci, though his was more about what's under the waves (and Cocteau stayed on the mood board). The most dramatic looks were sheer nets in which a host of amphibious creatures were snared.   They uncomfortably echoed a technique that Christopher Kane has made his own.

Giorgetti submerged himself in the Pucci archives for visual motifs like the shells, or the multi-panelled petal skirt, or the shade of emerald green he used for a trench coat and sequinned dress. The trench was his left-field take on Pucci’s famous pyjamas, the sequins were just something Giorgetti thought looked cool for daytime. (He used them a lot – and he’s actually right.) But, archive or not, none of that actually said Pucci in any identifiable way.  Using Emilio’s signature to trace a pattern on a sheer top, or straddle the spine of a slipdress didn’t really compensate.