CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

Ciao Ragazzi ! we follow on from the splendiferous LC:M of last week with what hopes to be equally captivating and awe inspiring Milano Moda Uomo. Unlike London the colour palette of our stylish Italian cousins seems to be of a more somber and some might say commercial and seasonally appropriate nature, that is apart from Prada, Versace ohhh and the Brit Dame Vivienne Westwood, more on that later folks.

First off on our whistle stop round up on the Italian style capital is Ermenegildo Zegna, capably helmed by ex YSL Creative Director, Stefano Pilati, who was inspired by the fusion of City and Nature on a global scale. The city-scapes of New York, Shanghai or Milan where Zegna suits are common place, the mixing of casual elements with the formal cuts which Zegna has made its name in.

Ermenegildo Zegna

On a more ROCKIER tip was John Varvatos, who despite worked with Black, Navy or white was channelling a very Glam rock vibe which culminated in Kings of Glam Rock “KISS” yes Kiss coming out to take a bow with the man himself.

Crazy, crazy night with John Varvatos(far right, just in case)

Now over to a Dolce & Gabbana, who always love a theme for their shows and boy do they know how to put on a show ! Literally all we needed was good King Goffrey sat frow (front row, God get with it) giving his Royal approval to complete this Medieval Merriment. The duo paid homage to everything of this epoch and ensured more Game of Thrones then Spamalot.

Gotta say I loved the D&G balaclava, there I said it

And so from the King of ROCK dressing to what has to be the Queen of dressing Rock Stars, Donnatella Versace, who was in a Wild, Wild West mood, I think can only sum it up. No one could ever accuse Ms Versace of not having a sense of humour which is often lost in the Fashion industry, where people take themselves far too serious.

Just off down the corner shop, does anyone want anything ? Yes, this was one of the more conservative looks.

Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein, drew on the Urban Explorer trend we are seeing rather a lot of this season, but also explored the heritage that made Calvin Klein so iconic using the names of three of their timeless fragrances in, Obsession, Eternity(my personal fave) and Escape to be emblazoned across some of its sweatshirts.

Calvin Klein

Now we all know I hate to start off on a negative and sorry for that Prada, but what was that soundtrack all about ? I needed some heavy duty Mexican painkillers for the headache after I left ! And have to say it did interfere with the enjoyment of the show, which was my favourite Prada collection of recent years. Trademark signature colours, which so shouldn’t work but so do, lil military detailing and a move away from that skinny-Malinke silhouette.

Prada

Penultimately we have the first show from Marc Jacobs since he parted company with Louis Vuitton to concentrate on his signature line. This is a man who knows a thing or two about Fashion design and this collection has to be one of his most commercial and wearable to date. Take away the styling details of the turn ups etc this a collection that every man with a modicum of taste will LOVE, honestly, I promise.

Marc Jacobs

Ahhh and once again we reach the end of our non stop tour of some of the biggest names in men’s style and what better way to finish then with an Italian Super brand synonymous with style, class and excellent taste, of course, Gucci. While watching this show I couldn’t help thinking of two inspirations throughout it, firstly, obviously Frida Gianinni was draw towards the influences of London’s Swinging Sixties of Carnaby Street and the Beatles but secondly and somewhat more obscurely was the Hovis boy of the TV ad fame, sorry I know but couldn’t stop referring to him.

By’eck son it’s None other then Gucci

In the past couple of months, new watches have been released but three have really stood out from the crowd.

3. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore LeBron James limited edition
Last year Audemars Piguet announced LeBron James, a professional American basketball player, as their new brand ambassador. To honour this announcement, and LeBron James, they have developed a new 600 piece limited edition dedicated to him.

Like LeBron James, the size of the watch is large with a 18-carat rose gold 44m diameter case. Not only is the case large, the bezel is made from titanium- lightweight titanium so it isn’t heavy on the wrist. The dial is also has a grey “Méga Tapisserie” pattern which gives it an edge and makes it appear like metal. To give this watch a softer touch, diamonds are also set on a push-piece at the side of the case at the 2 o’clock mark.

2. TAG Heuer Carrera Jack Heuer edition

Yet another watch made for dedication purposes, this new TAG Heuer celebrates the 80^th birthday of TAG’s chairman Jack Heuer. The design has elements from Formula One and Jack Heuer’s coat of arms and signature are imprinted onto the sapphire crystal case back. Through the sapphire crystal case back the 39-jewel Calibre 1887 movement can be seen, a movement that vibrates 28,800 times per hour and has a 50-hour power reserve.

1.Bremont Codebreaker

Released only this month, Bremont have a new limited edition watch. Only 240 steel versions have been made and there are 50 rose gold versions.

One of the most interesting watches released in 2013, the watch’s movement is made from pieces of Enigma machines from World War II that were used to decipher secret German codes. The serial number on the case of each watch is made from original punch cards which we used to analyse the coded date from the Enigma machines.

To find out more about the Codebreaker, watch this video:

It is a bit of a tradition that we at Clothes Make the Man go DRY in January, after the excess of Christmas and New Year it seems prudent to make a healthy start to the New Year.

There are some additional advantages, we may lose a few pounds while saving a few quid and show that we can stick to a resolution even if it’s only 31 days ( and counting)

You can always get sponsored so that your mates can be the “drinks police” and you can donate any money you would have spent down the pub to Alcohol Concern who work to raise awareness of the problem of alcohol misuse. http://www.dryjanuary.org.uk/

Keeping hydrated is such an easy way to improve overall health and wellbeing; health experts recommend we drink 1.5 litres of water per day = 8 glasses.

Filtering your water to make it as pure and clean as possible makes real sense especially when detoxing and using a Brita Marella water filter reduces limescale and chlorine as well as metals such as copper and lead.

The BPA-free BRITA Fill&Go bottle offers a great alternative to expensive mineral water Hey – healthy and cost efficient! Each Fill&Go disc provides you with a week’s worth of great tasting water, saving you from buying bottles of water.

Christopher Kane

So after yesterday’s plethora of delights that enthralled us, what do we have for you today. Well, we can quite safely say COLOUR is the major trend for Autumn, but you could retort with, so what’s new ? What’s new is that we have seen pretty much every colour of the Rainbow from the darker more somber tones as een in TOPMAN Design and the monochromes of Agi & Sam to the racier hues of Richard Nicoll, Jonathan Saunders and of course Christopher Kane, who offered a box of delights to keep any man happy no matter his taste from sober to total intoxication. Kane has expanded his collection to include a more formal element right the way through to his signature patterns and knits in amazing and engaging tones.

Hackett

Next stop was the Freemasons Hall in Holborn for the Hackett Show, some what of a British institution holding it’s show within another British institution. The Freemason’s was a spectacular venue for the staging of this grand hotel themed setting. It was like a game of Guess Who, with leading men under the guise of the Explorer, The Graduate, the CEO and travel photographer, to name a few. In short everything was right about this show, in trying to select a picture to illustrate this show, it was so difficult as I liked one shot, then another and another.

E.Tautz

As always I like to gauge the opinion of learned colleagues, up first this season, is The StyleKing himself, Gary Kingsnorth, who described Patrick Grant’s E.Tautz as, “The highlight of LC:M was E.Tautz for me, a collection that was strong and contemporary.Inspired by the artwork of William Hogarth that was brought bang up date was a compelling collection to watch on the catwalk .”

Kent & Curwen

Another house of tradition with its roots firmly entrenched in formalwear, but somewhat commencing a transformation, since the appointment of new Creative Director, by golly there all at it, Simon Spurr is Kent & Curwen. He bought us a range inspired by Naval dress uniform, where he has reinterpretation and juxtaposition of iconic pieces.

Burberry Prorsum

So from one brand ringing in the changes to the ultimate brand who have completely turned themselves around, Burberry. Christopher Bailey for Burberry Prorsum, used London again as inspiration, in the second season of showing at LC:M he embraced the London Autumnal weather and used Leaf prints on Scarf, shirts and coats. Plus, if anyone can make that other very British of garment, the string vest cool again surely it has to be Bailey ?

Christopher Shannon

The second of our contributing opinion formers comes from one of the pioneers in men’s style blogging, Marcus Jaye, otherwise known as TheChicGeek, who felt, “Think my favourite show was Christopher Shannon. Really took it to the next level with ideas and the finish. Kept his sportswear look that he is known for, but gave others, who aren’t necessarily into that look , something like the fag packet knits or the bomber jackets.”

A.Sauvage

And finally, we come all too quickly to the end of another LC:M and what better way to finish this review of the best of the best then with Mr Adrien Sauvage. Who presented his envious and effortlessly cool take on style from rocking formalwear to rock inspired casual wear.

London has well and truly established itself as a destination on the menswear calendar as a Fashion & Style capital. So as that international Fashion circus of journalists, retail buyers, celebs and, well yours truly, all conjugate in major cities in the name of observing the trends and future wares of some of the biggest & most talented fashion brands in the world, Clothes-Make-the-Man brings you all the best reviews, titbits & opinions over the coming weeks. Enough of this, first up on the London Schedule is the exhibition as I, rather out of character, arrived early. So I took myself off to have a look around, which in the past have proven to be a greater source of inspiration than many of the show, this season was no exception. With the likes of a Common People, Lyle & Scott and Universal works all offering GREAT Collections for Autumn including collaborations with Jonathan Saunders and the aforementioned Universal Works for Lyle & Scott, all managing, very well, I hasten to add, to produce very creative collection all the while managing to be highly commercial.

An example if Jonathan Saunders for Lyle & Scott

Onto the shows for me, my lad and first up is TOPMAN. You never quite know what to expect from TOPMAN Design and this season was no exception, the show can be summed up in three words Mature, Desirable but above all Wearable. With a very muted colour palette of Black, Navy, pale blue and flashes of Russian Red. If those guys over at TOPMAN HQ are planning on targeting an older the customer, they won’t have a problem enticing him. Plus with the dulcet tones of John Copper Clarke and the downpour of rain in the finale, it brought me right back home to my Northern roots.

TOPMAN Design

Next on my hit list is Gieves & Hawkes and the subject of yesterday’s textual Conversation, Mr Jason Basmajian, who just so happens to be the house’s new Creative Director, making waves in all the right places. Jason, informed us his profile that he was going to offer us an, “Elegant,textural, tailored, rich, Savile Row revisited, British twist”. Which quite simply summed up the collection.

Gieves & Hawkes

Now, talk about ends of the spectrum and what is becoming a real USP for LC:M is how it manages to go from the tradition and finesse of Savile Row to young designers offering the height of creative inspiration. One in question being the wonderful Richard Nicoll, who from season to season just seems to be getting stronger and stronger when it comes to his Menswear. Only four seasons in and Nicoll’s presented to us, what can only be described as a riot of Colour. If I had to fit it into a tweet, I’d say, A modern interpretation of the urban man’s wardrobe.

Richard Nicolls

Last, but by no means least of today’s round up, is Christopher Raeburn, who was one of a number of Designers who picked up on the Polar Explorer vibe in their collection, it was a seriously cool show which Mr Raeburn laid on. You were left thinking, did he know something about the weather for next season that we didn’t which was rather apt as we read about our freezing American cousins who were experiencing record low temperatures.

Christopher Raeburn

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

Milano Moda Uomo (Milan Menswear Shows AW14)

Watches to WATCH out for by Charlotte Adams

Hydration is the Key, Brita’s Dry January

London Collections:Men Show Review Autumn/Winter 2014 Pt II

London Collections:Men Show Review Autumn/Winter 2014 Pt I

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