Models wear creations by Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection, presented during the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan, Italy. — AP/AFP photos

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi was on hand Wednesday to kick off Milan Fashion Week, putting his political clout behind an industry that sets the standard for the nation, if not the world. While Italian officials are reducing their economic growth forecasts for the country this year to between 0.8 percent and 1 percent, the fashion industry is set to grow by 1.4 percent and reach a value of 83.6 billion euros.

This was Renzi's second time opening fashion week - a sign of the premier's commitment to helping showcase Italy's fashion prowess. The big brands presenting their womenswear collections for next spring and summer in Milan through Monday are motors of that growth. Credit also goes to the supply chain that provides inspiration to designers around the globe. Gucci, Fausto Puglisi, Roberto Cavalli and Philipp Plein were among the brands showing their wares on the first day of fashion week. Highlights:

Gucci's sensual panic

Alessandro Michele has cast an eerie, dream-like spell over Gucci. The womenswear collection for next spring and summer was presented through a smoky, reddish light - the theatrical equivalent of rose-colored glasses. All the better for viewing the fantasy-filled collection. The Gucci girl for next season - the looks require at least a youthful outlook - suggests an antique doll waiting to be dressed up. She can be styled as a Victorian lady, a pretty princess, an athletic boxer or even a denim-clad disco-lover.

The mood veered through eras, but was almost always pretty with a proliferation of ruffles or fringe. Headgear was central, as it is in any dress-up box, and included floppy hats, babushka bandanas and aviator hats. There also was spectacular, beehive-shaped netting that would be appropriate for tending a queen bee while offering protection from stings. The designer said all the clothes in the collection "tell a story stepped in wonder, phantasmagoria and unorthodoxy." He said the experience should provoke, "a sensual panic," citing French intellectual Roger Callois, and "cultivate the unexpected," in the words of the German writer Elias Canetti.

Eyewear was big, square and sequined, attached at the back of the head, and competed for attention with oversized bejeweled earrings. The lighting flattened the colors, but included bright yellow, green, orange and cotton candy pink. Lurex and sequin accents that would command attention in a crowded nightclub or a foggy alleyway were plentiful.

Michele nudged away from androgyny this season, featuring pretty taffeta dresses with an asymmetrical, off the shoulder cut. Ruffles of varying doses embellished the dress, while fluffy, fringy flourishes on coat and dress sleeves produced an angelic effect. "Thank you for giving us dresses," yelled one admirer backstage in encouragement.

Native American Spirit

Norwegian designer Peter Dundas explored both his American and his Norwegian roots in a new Roberto Cavalli collection that embody a nomadic spirit. The Native American dreamcatcher is a repeating motif in the collection that veers from free flowing . It appears as designs on shawls, prints, earrings and is even woven into a knit poncho top that finishes in a long, trailing fringe.

"It started with wanting to explore a little bit my American side. My mother was American," the designer said backstage. "I discovered Navajo artwork, which reminded me very much of the Norwegian snowflake." The wandering didn't stop there. He took inspiration from Japanese kimonos and French quilting, and mixed it all together. "It was a mental exercise as well," he said.

Many pieces are stitched out of patchwork, but this is not the prairie version. This patchwork seams together rich gold embossed fabrics in baby-doll tops, sheer lace into evening gowns and contrasting leather, denim and print into trousers. "It was more like having fun; it was really that. Mixing things and finding things that were surprising to me by collaging elements together," Dundas said. "It is a summer wardrobe. It means freedom."-AP