A naive streak is running through the collections on preview during Milan Fashion Week – with a return to simpler times, yesteryear prints and patterns, and unfussy silhouettes. Checked gingham is making a comeback, while crushed velvet is making inroads into the summertime wardrobe as fashion takes comfort in nostalgia. Raffia bags and weave details also are on display. Fendi seemed to have an atavistic, perhaps artistic, need to return to the brand’s ready-to-wear roots in the mid-1960s – to confront the first collection since the loss of Karl Lagerfeld, the brand’s founding womenswear designer from 1965 until his death last February. Milan Fashion Week: Fendi says tearful goodbye to Karl Lagerfeld The new collection by Silvia Venturini Fendi drew on easy 1960s mum styles, like quilted jackets and matching miniskirts, a garden floral cropped raincoat and skirt, and easy-to-wear terry-cloth skirts and canvas jackets. Woven bags and matching woven sweaters had a nostalgic, almost naive feel, countered by a plunging V-line and translucent print mini or matching macramé weave skirts. How far has Daniel Lee bent the rules for Bottega Veneta? Fendi’s Roman tribute to Karl Lagerfeld brings out the stars Florals and gardening references tied in neatly with the menswear Spring/Summer 2020 collection previewed last June in Milan. A series in golden honey yellow and brown gave a down-to-earth buzz to a checked fur coat, or gingham dress with short-sleeved fur in matching trim. Why Rome is the most Instagramable city for fashion For the queen bee, there was a rich coat of alternating stripes of fur and gingham, worn with sheer checked skirt and a cropped marigold knit top. The look finished with bug-eye glasses, fastened with a librarian eyeglass chain bearing the double FF logo. The 1969 hit The Age of Aquarius played throughout the show, setting an optimistic tone for Fendi’s debut collection flying as the solo headliner. And she took her bows standing in front of the image of a rising orange sun to the companion melody Let the Sunshine In . Want more stories like this? Sign up here . Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .