With a specialty in prints, Etro was well-positioned to take on spring's '70s revival. And this collection, at Milan Fashion Week, had all of the elements -- bohemian maxi-dresses, peasant blouses, jumpsuits and wood platform shoes.

Each piece was a canvas for Etro's famed textiles, which had a bolder look this season, more akin to something you would expect to see from Diane Von Furstenberg in her 1970s heyday. (Think bright colors, tribal and geometric.)

But it wasn't all flow-y hippie chick. There were also some strong tailored pieces, including a khaki pantsuit with flared, high-waist pants that could have come straight out of Mary Tyler Moore's closet.

-- Booth Moore

Etro spring-summer 2011 runway collection photo gallery

Photo: Etro spring-summer 2011 at Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times

Monday at Milan Fashion Week served up two back-to-back grass-covered fashion shows. The first was Etro's eco-conscious "Tree of Life" collection, which included gift bags filled with soil and seedling trees (good luck getting that back through customs ... ), as well as a collection filled with climbing-vine motifs that played out across a faux-turf runway.

The second was the show for Dolce & Gabbana's lower-priced D&G line, where the catwalk was covered with sod so fresh you could smell the earthiness the minute you entered the room. Though, to be fair, let's remember that Etro did plant a vegetable garden alongside the runway a few seasons back (which required nearly constant watering to keep from wilting under the lights).

Using Édouard Manet's painting "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" ("The Lunch on the Grass") as a starting point, the Spring/Summer 2011 Menswear collection was a picnic basket packed full of '50s-era lunch-on-the-lawn motifs, most notably the bold red-and-white-checked button-front shirts, which evoked the classic image of a picnic blanket, and a garden party's worth of jackets in pale green, light blue, pink and yellow. (Although a screen-printed T-shirt bearing the image of Johnny Depp circa "Cry-Baby" was a head-scratching non sequitur.) 

But my favorites (as an ardent fan of all things tropical) were the aloha-print pieces, including jackets, swim trunks, shorts and button-front shirts festooned with surfers, palm trees, seascapes, exploded florals and pineapples. Lunch on the lawn never looked so luxe.

The travel theme is pretty much a constant at the men's spring/summer collections, but with this collection, D&G reminded us that traveling can be as easy shrugging into a mint-green jacket or spreading a blanket on the grass.

-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan, Italy

Photos: D&G's Spring / Summer 2011 menswear show

Follow All the Rage on Facebook and Twitter.

More All the Rage coverage of Milan Fashion Week

Photos: Looks from the D&G Spring / Summer 2011 Menswear collection, shown during Milan Fashion Week on June 21, 2010. Credit: Peter Stigter and Jonas Gustavsson / For The Times

MILAN -- What the Etro collection lacked in big ideas it made up for in wearable clothes, beginning with perfectly cut, metallic-glazed blazers and pants cropped above the ankle, right on through to the airy chiffon gowns featuring the house's signature textiles translated into ribbons of print.

The fall season's surface-texture trend appeared on an amazing-looking multicolored silk fringe skirt and a bronze, one-sleeve dress with a studded leather cage effect and a tribal feel.

--Booth Moore

RELATED:

All the Rage's Milan Fashion Week coverage

Review: Etro's fall 2009 men's show

Get more Milan updates: Follow Booth on Twitter

Photo: Surface texture, a fall trend, and bold pattern were on display in a sleek Etro design. Damien Meyer / AFP / Getty Images

Most designers showing at fashion week in Milan have bent over backward to show they're in touch with the reality of dwindling disposable income, and their collections have all been linked by their efforts to evoke, nostalgia, comfort, familiarity and connectedness. It makes for good PR and OK copy, but how much fun is the party when everyone's behaving themselves?

There's a place in the world for escapist fare &mdash books, movies, and yes, clothing — that takes our mind off the bleached bones of our 401(k) fund and the fact that our houses are more valuable as raw lumber