Milan Menswear Shows Hightlights – Spring/Summer 2016

Iceberg

As sure as night follows day, or is that day follows night, I never know, Milan follows London on the Men’s Style Calendar. Yes, all those poor fashion journalists, buyers, opinion formers and of course the all important fashion PR’s have to pack up their designer luggage, and head off to the Italian capital of cool, Milano.

Here like London we saw a whole host of trends presented to us by the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Pringle of Scotland, why does that last house not seem to quite fit in there ???

Missoni

The first Spring/Summer 2016 trend we picked up was the use of Autumal hues being introduced in a Summer like way. We saw traditional tones like Burgundy, Mustard, Navy blue, Moss and Brown all being used to great effect to portray the opposing season they are known for by the likes of Fendi, Missoni, Pringle of Scotland and Marni.

Bally

This trend may have been aptly assisted by the following trend, which seems at the moment to be steam rolling its way through the entire Fashion industry from Mens and Womenswear and from the High End Luxury market right the way to the fast Fashion elements of the High Street retailers. That of course being the 1970’s as a great source of inspiration. However, it has to be said some brands achieved this, notoriously marmite decade, a lot better than others. These being the ones who were a little less literal in their interpretation of this era, houses from Bally, Missoni and Salvatore Ferragamo were more covert in their appreciation. Whereas others, who shall remain nameless seemed to use Shaggy from Scooby Doo as their muse for this season.

Versace

Anyway, moving on, travel never seems to bore as a source of inspiration for designers and this season was no exception we had Donnatella Versace and her team sourcing the cuts, shapes and silhouettes of India. Dolce & Gabbana, as always, used their Italian heritage as the basis for their designs but this time China and its iconology served as its twist on their take for SS16. But it was the ever traveller, Giorgio Armani who offered us an East meets West, using his own back catalogue as reference for his Emporio Armani collection.

Dolce & Gabbana

While we are talking about cultures feeding off one and others tailoring heritage, it was the Americans who showed us how it should be done on a formal front both iconic houses of Ralph Lauren, who offered an impeccable range of suiting for his Purple label and Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein Collection on a more contemporary tip. Not wanting to be outdone some of Italy’s oldest and traditional houses offered a Masterclass in tailoring excellence from Brioni to Brunello Cucinelli and Boglioli.

Ralph Lauren

Lastly, we have, sorry I have to say it, probably my least favourite of the Milanese trends, ROCK STAR !!! This is something the Italians seem to love and always manage to offer up in some way shape or form. This season, as in every season, Costume National drew on their inner Rocker and they were joined by Diesel Black Gold, Neil Barrett and Phillipp Plein, who managed to come down for his finale on the back of a bike, very Evel Kenevel, yeah I know he’s not a Rock Star!

Diesel Black Gold