Bermuda shorts are back with Giorgio Armani in Milan

MILAN - Bermuda shorts made a dramatic comeback at the Giorgio Armani catwalk show at Milan Fashion Week on Monday, which mixed modern cuts and vibrant colours with throwbacks to the 1920s.

A model in Bermuda shorts on the catwalk at Giorgio Armani's show in Milan today (AFP, GIUSEPPE CACACE)

"The look is rockabilly, reflecting a fun, bad-girl attitude," the Armani team said, but the brand's mix of masculine clothes with feminine coloured prints in oranges, fuchsias and reds received a mixed reaction in the audience.

The show kicked off with grey trouser suits topped off with fedora-style hats worn tilted with shiny flat shoes, giving the models a sexy gangster look.

Black bermudas were matched with shocking neon orange and pink blouses and shirts, and one which gathered loosely up around the neck like a flower bud and worn under a snug black velvet jacket, sparked a round of admiring applause.

There were faux fur light and loose-fitting coats with satin trim, loose satin skirts to the knee and black woollen roll-neck jumpers, as well as shrugs with electric blue lines and a peach dress covered in black swinging beads.

The most eccentric pieces were a dress with a transparent black skirt revealing a pair of shocking pink bermudas below, and a pair of orange and pink over sized velvet coats which seemed to have swallowed their wearers whole.

While the waistline began high, it dropped towards the end of the collection and evening dresses with ruffle flounces and glittering sequins worn with long crystal chains had a 1920s soul.