Step aside, boys

GUCCI is back. That was the message Wednesday night when designer Frida Giannini presented a collection with the kind of brash glamour that gets cash registers (and Hollywood stylists) humming.

The former Gucci accessories designer, who took over women’s ready-to-wear last March, was criticized for her saccharine spring collection, highlighted by puff-sleeve dresses in tepid florals. But for fall, she found her edge, realizing rightly that the sexy beast is now as much a part of Gucci’s DNA as the equestrian princess.

As the Milan shows continued this week, the aggressiveness that began in New York at Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler and Karl Lagerfeld took hold of the runways here. Fashion is in the midst of a shift. You could see it in the streetwise language of the Gucci and Max Mara collections, which erupted into a primal scream at Prada. After several years of dressing as frilly objects, women are again becoming the subject.

There was plenty of Hollywood in the Gucci show, especially of the Rachel Zoe variety. Zoe, the celebrity stylist and Lindsay Lohan look-alike who is currently defining West Coast style, could easily slip into the sharp tailored, liquid-gold pantsuit or the long, fluid white jersey skirt, worn with a studded mink bomber and python belt. (The models’ long, loose blond hair was a perfect match too.)

Giannini raided her collection of 1970s and ‘80s records for inspiration, so Electric Light Orchestra’s “Evil Woman” blared, along with David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” A glam-rock Bowie look was there too, in the new super-long silhouette, exemplified by a cream cashmere maxi coat worn over cuffed pants and gleaming red stilettos with mirrored platforms.

This was a collection for women who equate sexiness with power, a la Tom Ford, so belts were studded and Wonder Woman large, and metallic clutch bags were attached to the wrist with cuff bracelets. Giannini brought back the Gucci suit, in glossy black or white silk, exquisitely tailored with wide-lapel jackets layered over scarf print blouses and even wider cuffed pants. But there were also skinny jodhpurs tucked into riding boots and topped with bomber jackets in patchwork lizard or purple crocodile.

Jersey dresses with keyhole cutouts skimmed the thighs, and studded belts accentuated the waist. Gowns fell to the floor, one in a gold chain-mail, another in a red leopard jersey held to the body with skinny gold chains. And, of course, there were lots of silly dance-club furs, including an electric-purple mink vest and an outrageous, full-length mink coat in tiger-like purple, black and white stripes.

Sure, there were some tawdry touches in the Versace vein, but that’s the risk when you take such a sexy stand.

At Max Mara, Ziggy Stardust met the mass market in one of the house’s best shows to date. Sweater dresses in silver or red sequin stripes injected immediate glam, worn with men’s suit jackets, footless tights and heels. Pinstripes and plaids were draped into asymmetrical skirts and strapless dresses, while oversized, zipper-studded sweaters were worn with leopard-print leggings tucked into combat boots for a neo-punk look.

There were also plenty of sensible, full-legged pants, blazers with sweater-knit shawl collars and tuxedos topping leopard-print or sequin vests. And Max Mara’s hallmark coats have never looked better -- hooded with satin lapels, full-length furs (with a Max Mara sweatshirt layered underneath for kicks) or dusted in gold sequins. One editor dubbed that sparkly duffle style the “red sports car” that would get her into a Max Mara store for the very first time.

Miuccia Prada wasn’t just feeling feisty, she was feeling fierce. For several seasons, her collections have been about a kind of wilting beauty -- frayed edges, trompe l’oeil seams, precious fabrics. But for fall, she turned from sweet to street. And though it wasn’t her best collection, the concept was compelling.

On the walls, projections of jungle vines grew over a classical landscape as her urban warriors walked the labyrinthine runway, stalking their prey. They wore sportswear in muddy shades of green, navy and black and abstracted leopard print. Nylon anoraks were tricked out with fur pelts -- on a patch pocket or a back panel. Skinny black pants were stretched over patent-leather stilettos pointy enough to poke an eye out.

Clutch bags shaped like an armload of books could have been a reference to Prada’s own student-revolutionary days, when she marched with the Communist Party. But like the rest of the accessories -- fur-heeled Mary Janes and fur crash helmets, leather attache cases and ruched leather totes -- they were less than covetable.

Because Prada’s concrete-jungle queens get ahead with their brains, not their bods, she re-imagined that tool of seduction, the corset, in ribbed knit, and fastened it over a crewneck sweater, worn with a silk faille skirt, or incorporated it into the top of a knit mini dress.

Hooded jackets were tied around the waist in a possible nod to hip-hoppers. And menacing chunky studs and pins were clustered on a strapless black dress like stalactites.

The return of knitwear has been a big story here this week, beginning at D&G.; So it was the perfect opportunity for venerable Scottish knitwear brand Pringle to break with its argyle past and introduce a new designer, Claire Wright Keller. She has quite a resume, having worked at Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label, Calvin Klein and Gucci. And she had some interesting ideas from the very first look: a soft gray cable knit sweater with a braided yoke, swinging out over straight charcoal pants. A gray knit jersey dress with smocking at the waist was work-ready, as were menswear check trousers -- for women who are happier wearing the pants.

Alberta Ferretti is all about the thrill of frills, a view that seemed particularly dated right now. As always, she showed lots of girlish cocktail frocks, the best in black chiffon with pretty pin tucking and a Pierrot collar. But the full-length gowns were so overloaded with trim (scraps of fur, chain-link belts, flyaway ribbons), you felt as if you were watching a “Project Runway” challenge in which designers could use only scraps from their sewing boxes.

Attempts to pare things down with a charcoal, military-styled maxi coat, a short jacket belted under the bust and skinny black pants were forgettable. And what was with that ridiculous cocoon cape without openings for the arms? How’s a woman supposed to karate chop her way to the top in a fur-trimmed straitjacket?