MILAN'S spring/summer 2011 season collection last week was a spectacular feast of new designs from the world's leading fashion trend setters. Colleen Barry finds Hollywood stars in the front rows and celebrations and tributes to designers as she chronicles four days of stunning style.Annie Lennox belted out four of her hits as dozens of models strutted Dolce & Gabbana's creations for the spring/summer 2011 season down the runway.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana pulled out all stops to mark the 20th anniversary of their menswear launch. After taking the risk that Ms Lennox's spectacular vocals might overshadow their new collection, the designing duo opened a retrospective of the last two decades in the city's stately Palazzo Marino and outdoors in Piazza della Scala.

The show was a tour de force of simplicity, with the trademark nods to Dolce's Sicilian heritage including the Sicilian caps, Sicilian-style fishermen sandals, workers' white T-shirts, and pants tied with jute belts. As the pair reflected on two decades of achievement, the clothing conjured an image of humble roots.

The colors were simple: beige, white, sand and black, and the designers said in their notes that the colors, including white and black, gave the appearance of having been left out in the sun.

The pants and shorts were cuffed, and paired with softly tailored jackets and thin ties. Shirts were loose in poplin and washed muslin, sweaters loosely knit fisherman-style.

"I liked all of the evening wear," said Morgan Freeman, who had a front-row seat near Matthew McConaughey.

Burberry

Burberry is forecasting a chilly spring and summer next year and is sticking close to its heritage with the trademark trench coat sharing the runway with military- and biker-styled jackets.

Designer Christopher Bailey's concession to the season: mesh shirts and sweaters and sandals, except when the tight leather pants were paired with rubber Wellington boots.

Versace

There's a twang of rockabilly glam in Versace's collection. Trousers are super slim and finish at the ankle. Suits are worn with silver chains and necklaces instead of ties. And then there was Fringe.

There was fringe on a black leather jacket, fringe on long black leather pants on a bare-chested, well-tatooed model, and black fringe on a mid-length white jacket.

The suits were tight and the fabric shiny, attention grabbing, with optical prints meant to create a kaleidoscopic effect, appearing to magnify and shrink.The Alexander McQueen fashion house presented its first menswear collection following the designer's death, drawing on archives and the fashion house's British roots in a bid for continuity.

But not everyone stuck close to familiar territory on the second day of men's fashion week: Giorgio Armani presented a surprisingly edgy and militaristic/borderline S&M line for next summer. In a diametrically opposite look for the season, Gianfranco Ferre's young designing pair looked to India, Japan and China for a relaxed, easy-to-wear collection cut largely of linen and silk.

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2011 collection was the first solo outing for Sarah Burton, who has worked with the fashion house for 16 years and was named creative director last month. The house may still be seeking its emotional footing since McQueen's suicide but found firm stylistic ground in the aristocratic and military tradition of Savile Row tailoring district and shopping street.

The collection hits a range of historical notes, from World War I Tommies to uppercrust Eaton schoolboys. "This is the England of Alexander McQueen, a place of eclectic historical and cultural references," the fashion house said.

There were classic trench coats of super light fabric, over stretch tweed military-style leggings, and linen jackets paired with skinny pants that defy their slim fit with cargo pockets.

The color range was mostly neutrals, grays and tans, with flashes of red and orange that burst through in one rich red velvet jacket over wide-leg silk trousers with an Oriental print.

Shirts ran the gamut from an easy Nehru collar, or wide, stiff Eton-collar shirts that give new meaning to the phrase buttoned-up.

The collection's highlight was an evening suit that faded from a shimmery silver to gray, giving the effect of a spotlight shining from above, with roomy trousers rolled up at the heel.

Emporio Armani

For his second line Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani strode unshrinking into the leather-clad world depicted in Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" video, which was fully referenced at the end of the show when a parade of Emporio models dressed in black leather military gear from the caps on their heads to the lace-up boots marched across the runway.

No relaxed summer look for the Emporio Armani man: He's clad in leather and wearing chains, or maybe a mesh metal scarf.

"Maybe this is not something we expect to see from Emporio Armani," the designer said after the show. The collection is something youths would "happily wear for their nocturnal wanderings in search of fun," Armani said.

Armani took elements that have become wardrobe standards and put in a contemporary twist, pairing Bermuda shorts with leggings, and updating camouflage with cool city colors, including putty, beige and gray.

There was lots of leather -- pants, short-sleeve shirts, gilets with cap sleeves and jackets that might be laser-cut or given an animal print including fish scales and a tortoise.

GianFranco Ferre

At the other end of the fashion spectrum, GianFranco Ferre's young design team of Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi sought inspiration in the Orient, with references from China, India and Japan in their spring/summer collection.

Lightweight shirts were collarless, or high-collared with buttons in the back, paired with loose trousers or Bermuda shorts. Floppy broad-brimmed hats provided ample sun protection on a safari or in a rice paddy.

For forays into the city, there were three-piece suits and for the evening a tuxedo in silk shantung, cream with black lapels and tie.

The collection features soothing colors of powder green to sand khaki to sky blue.Two of the Milan fashion world's designing women -- Miuccia Prada and Gucci's Frida Giannini -- like their men to be, well, masculine, but they approached the job for next spring and summer very differently.

Gucci was about fine detailing and craftmanship. Prada was nothing if not spare. What they shared was clarity.

Both also played with blue denim, which is making a cameo in many collections for next spring and summer.

Prada

Miuccia Prada described her menswear collection in bold colors and clear lines as "simplicity regained."

There was a distinct industrial feel to the show on a catwalk bathed in low-hanging light and constructed of silver medal grids that would certainly have tripped up stiletto-heeled female models but resonated well for the thick-soled men.

Simply cut pullover V-neck shirts in cotton, and sometimes denim, resemble hospital garb and are worn over ample Bermuda shorts that have an A-cut more suggestive of a skirt. Tailored jackets have three buttons, but only two are fastened, allowing the brightly colored stripe along the button line to peek through and are paired with skinny pants, a favorite of the season. Sweaters had boatnecks and featured bold stripes around the top.

Gucci

Gucci's summer collection evoked memories of the 1970s: leisure suits, braided leather and elaborate Native American designs.

Frida Giannini started off the collection on an elegant note, a double-breasted suit in deep blue over silk T-shirts with slim pants and set off with silver necklaces. Other versions had more casual jackets, accented by crumpled silk scarves.

But she left plenty of room for casual fun: a denim shirt with an intricate design that evoked Native American art, and sportswear recalling 1970s leisure suit Sahara jackets with four front pockets.

There were belted-suede shorts in bold printed shirts and a thick silver wristband.

As always, Gucci played prominently with its trademark bags, with a series inspired by travel with hand-braided handles and straps.If Giorgio Armani showed the edgy, dark side of nighttime fun in his Emporio collection, he spared a ray of sunshine for his signature line.

Skinny pants defined the male silhouette for spring/summer 2011 in four days of Milan shows, but Armani offered easily tailored trousers that a mature man can wear comfortably.

Dean and Dan Caten, the Canadian twins behind the DSquared2 label, were all about laid-back fun with a line that summoned memories of the 1970s.

Armani

Chartreuse. That glowing yellow-green essence gave a sunny contrast to Armani neutrals: classic slate blue and gray suits worn with finely knit jersey shirts, then set off with chartreuse shoes, belts, pocket scarves and even sunglass lenses.

"Chartreuse is a flash of sun, of energy," Armani said after the show of his Giorgio Armani collection. Mint and lime green accents and pieces also gave a dash of freshness to the collection.

The Giorgio Armani man is relaxed with his hands in his pockets and confident enough to wear heavily made-up smoky eyes -- a sign of an edge that is perhaps more sophisticated than the leather-clad serious fun-seeking Emporio Armani guys grinding alongside Lady Gaga.

Armani's double-breasted suit was more than a nod to classic style, it was a display of masculinity.

"There is a sense of pectoral power without making you see," Armani said. That is to say: Male strength, without the bare chest.

The collection also had a technical accent with sportswear made out of ultralight Kevlar fabric. Lightweight shirts, sometimes textured to give a chunky feel, were worn under vests, or short waistcoats worn alone to substitute for shirts under jackets.

Gingham, a theme in Dolce & Gabbana's second line D&G, also made an appearance in Armani in black-and-white checked pants that were paired with plaid jackets.

DSquared2

Dean and Dan Caten's brand of fun and sex appeal is nothing if not overt. The DSquared2 man is not afraid to bear his pecs, and to make the point a buff model worked out in the background for part of the show.

The collection was as easy as a 1970s sit-com: lots of jeans with classic yellow stitching, worn with a braided leather belt, and a button-down shirt, in, say, pink or white, left mostly unbuttoned to show off long fine gold chains. A shirt would really only be overkill under that fisherman's knit cardigan and paired with jean shorts.