MILAN - NEXT winter will be warm and cosy for Dolce & Gabbana's male fans, with big, fluffy sheepskins, chunky jumpers, wraparound wool scarves and cloth caps, the designers suggested in their menswear show on Saturday.

The duo, the first of the big names to air their ideas for winter 2009 in Milan, focused on blacks, midnight blues and charcoal greys.

Models were wrapped up in huge sheepskin coats or jackets, while gilets looked snug over big-knit baggy jumpers in misty blues and greys.

There was a nod to equestrianism with jodhpurs and high leather boots, or leather patches on the inside of velvet trousers and shirt elbows.

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce even turned out one model in comfy coffee-coloured combinations - juxtaposed with tough leather knee-length boots.

Lowry inspires Burberry

British label Burberry went for a thin silhouette inspired by the paintings of northern England artist L.S. Lowry, its designer Christopher Bailey said.

'I really wanted to look at all the old Lowry paintings ... there's something quite nostalgic, there's something (in them) a little romantic, something a bit industrial,' Bailey said.

His collection featured peaked dark wool caps and long trenchcoats - reminiscent of the thin, dark figures which populate Lowry's scenes of England's industrial north in the last century.

Burberry's men wore small-collared silk shirts with ruched or pleated fronts in coffee and black prints. Slimline dark trousers appeared stick-like under tweed overcoats or soft duffle coats.

Hats were too big and peaked or knitted, while gloves were oversized in wool or metallic leather.

And bags - like those at Dolce & Gabbana - were big soft grips just right for journeys on a Lowry-era steam train.

Gloves off at Versace

Designer Donatella Versace shunned bags, gloves and hats in her show, which was watched by celebrities including pop singer Beyonce.

She used a difficult palette of dull navy, bruise-burgundy and brown which the designer said was inspired by the paintings of artist Tamara de Lempicka.

A focus on tailoring brought back the double-breasted jacket and low-slung straight trousers, instead of the big, snug looks which found favour elsewhere.

Versace's version of sheepskin was worked hard, for coats with panelling picked out in leather strips - a more penned-in look than the wild and woolly lines at Dolce & Gabbana.

Sparkly cuffs and lapels tricked out a navy dinner jacket while figure-hugging fine knits completed the retro look.

Milan's menswear shows for winter 2009 run until Jan 15 and altogether 47 brands are putting models down the catwalk.

For Sunday, the first collection from Gianfranco Ferre's new creative director Lars Nilsson, who was appointed after Ferre died last year, is scheduled, along with Emporio Armani and idiosyncratic Prada. -- REUTERS