By Jessica Michault

The last day of Milan Fashion Week started out right with a beautiful Marni collection from designer Consuelo Castiglioni. Surprisingly this year marks the 20th anniversary of the house. How time flies when a designer consistently evolves and pushes both herself and her brand.

In a tour de force show Castiglioni expertly controlled and built up the intensity of this collection. In a deft unexpected twist she started off with a group of monochromatic ensembles. Without the designer's hallmark floral prints the impressive sculptural shapes that curved away, sliced back and draped across the body, laid bare her talents for form and construction.

When the bold oversized blooms arrived on fur coats, leather skirts and silk dresses to replace the raw cottons and linen pieces that opened the show they were greeted with open arms by an audience filled with guests wearing a selection of past season's flower print offerings.

The designer also injected an ethnic energy into the line up, pulling sartorial cultural references (judo black belts, African hoop necklaces, vibrant tropical bloom prints) to give the collection a melting pot appeal.

Finally Castiglioni brought the complex purity of her designs and her love of embellishments together in the last five looks. The serene and slightly solemn silhouettes hummed with energy thanks to an abundance of impressive ornamentation.

The final result was a collection set out in evolving sections, each chapter showing a different aspect of how the Marni brand had been able to thrive in, and thrill, the fashion industry for two decades.