It is a tribute to Italy’s reputation for having the best-dressed men that Milan Fashion Week has it’s own men’s week before the women strut their stuff. By all accounts (meaning mine and a few trusted references) it was a good season. As well as the Burberry looks detailed in my last post, here’s a wishlist of a few of the looks that I’m asking the Gods of Fashion to try and bless with the ‘trickle down’ effect so that we have a chance of seeing them on our shores.
For jackets there was a lot of nice quilting seen around with particular shout outs to Armani for doing a quilted blazer and to Moncler Gamme Bleu for quilted kilts (try saying that fast twenty times) in a mélange of French Scottish flair, which also gave us the fully knitted two piece suit. I’d love to see some more of the structured hoods of Fendi which were so elegant, not so much the fur which was all over the runway at Fendi, Trussardi and Versace also. I don’t know, men wearing fur? I can’t see that taking off, not even on High St.
Moncler Gamme Bleu
My favourite thing that I’m still waiting to become a trend was the Vivienne Westwoord classic of pants tucked into socks. There was also scarred faces, bold prints and serious attention to detail in the jewellery department. But the oversized houndstooth? Let’s just leave that for the Euros eh?
Vivienne Westwood
Let’s also adopt the colours of Prada with bright blue and rust red and the collars of Jil Sander, both of whom showed consistently solid collections of clean lines and strong silhouettes, as expected. Each made me a little anxious in other ways, though: Prada with their choice of models and Jil Sander having crew neck sleeveless vests which is never a good look, no matter how muscular your frame.
I could go on forever about the strong patterns at Gucci and the use of the colour mustard (!) or the capes at Trussardi which screamed cool so loudly I was practically drooling. But it was all so reassuring this season, there was just a lot of really good stuff with a few people breaking their own rules and breaking them well. I say, fashion, as it should be.
Trussardi
The Lucky Portfolio 