MILAN, Italy — Over the past few years, Marcelo Burlon's County of Milan label has been on the rise, igniting a cult following and commercial success. His ability to draw in a crowd and then dress said crowd in boldly proportioned and patterned streetwear is unparalleled.

Burlon has also proven to be wise, constantly expanding his work through a string of collaborations that help to evolve his stylistic vocabulary. The collection he showed Saturday was the nth iteration of his code: assertive streetwear, hyper-visual patterns and another wonderful cast of beautiful freaks.

The results, however, offered no step forward for the designer. Now that Milan needs fresh ideas more than ever before, it would be thrilling to see Burlon leave his comfort zone. With the kind of following he's able to create, it could make for a blast. This collection, instead, was just average.