Milan Menswear Shows AW13

The review of the Milan Menswear shows for this coming Autumn has a truly international feel to it, no not just because it’s Milanese, but we kick off with the review with the first lady of German, no not Angela Merkel,tut, the other iron lady Jil Sander and we conclude with the colourful Canadian duo the Brothers Caten and along the way we’ll throw in a Brit and a Yank for good measure.

You know when you attend a Jil Sander show it isn’t going to be all Peacock feathers, day glo and a gangster rap sound track and do you know what ? It wasn’t this season either, but what we were treated to was a vintage collection of true, pure Sander genius. There were covert military references, no surprises there, the colour palette was masculine and continued with the slight military undertone. But what was the show’s greatest success was the fact that it offered a sensible, wearable and contemporary collection without being boring.

Moving on to designers on more home turf for Dolce & Gabbana, who surely must be expecting a call from the Vatican’s legal team, for a share of their profits ? First they took the Rosary beads and turned them into a must have male Fashion accessory now they seem to have turned their attention to the miraculous medal, ask your Catholic friends. Their theme was “devotion” and boy did they mean it. They had turned their Teatro into a shrine, so much so, I nearly genuflected when I entered. This was full on Roman Catholic iconology, either a saints image was used to decorate a garment or the models looked as those they had stepped out of the seminary. Move over Geek chic this is parish priest chic !

Told you we’d throw a Brit in for good measure and who better then Mr Christopher Bailey MBE for Burberry Prorsum, who opted for the rather nostalgic theme of “I ♥ Classics” for his Autumnal showcase and on the whole I’d agree with him. It was a beautifully wearable collection but I’m just not quite sure about the injections of animal print, whether on bags, sunglasses, macs or on all the shoes throughout the show, maybe it’ll grow on me.

Next up is the all American brand helmed by the Italian Italo Zucchelli, Calvin Klein Collection. For this season Zucchelli seems to have fused a mix of contemporary masculine tailoring and futuristic sci-fi outerwear ala Blake 7, which saw the models look like either delegates or officers at some far flung inter galactic sartorial conference.

The Missoni show and its 60th anniversary was marred with the sad news that Vittorio Missoni and his wife Maurizia Castiglioni are still missing after their plane disappeared off the coast of Venezuela last Friday. The family decided the show must go on and indeed it did. The family run business famed for its patterned knitwear, offered a collection that couldn’t fail to please, not only were the aforementioned knits on display in outdoorsy hues. But the iconic family patterns were more subtly used in the weave of the fabric used in the construction of overcoats and suiting.

What can I say about Prada, well I want that Blue jumper NOW ! for starters. This collection wasn’t tricksy or whimsical, apparently the design team have been working on the exact tones of colour for months and it certainly paid off for them. Sub-culture references were there, this time Teddy boys, but it wouldn’t be a Prada show without these. If I had to make one criticism of it, be it a small one, was I found the casting distracting, the models looked like the 3 stooges and their dad or some odd Slovakian version of Hollyoaks, but it wasn’t enough to detract from the show.

And so from one Italian Dynasty to another, Gucci are freakin good at what they do and Frida Giannini, is doing a sterling job as Creative Director, almost to the point of making it an impossible task to think who could ever replace her at the iconic Fashion house and who would have thought that after Tom Ford. The Gucci vision and DNA is so strong there is no mistaking a piece from this company from accessories to a tuxedo, it is undoubtably Gucci and this collection does not disappoint and can be summed u in one word, Classic, this is without a doubt Giannini’s most traditional of collections to date.

Finally, to the Dynamic DSquared2 duo of Canadian Twins Dan and Dean Caten. What a show ! Congratulations lads, the best collection to date and it all centred around 1940’s jazz clubs. But don’t let the retro theme fool you this was bang up to date and offered something everyman could buy into.