Milan Menswear Shows Hightlights – Autumn/Winter 2015

If someone said to you we need a show to really kick Milan Mens Fashion Week off, one brand comes straight to mind. Now throw into the mix that this said brand are celebrating 20 years in the Fashion business and you could expect fireworks and good on those pesky Canadian twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared, they didn’t disappoint ! Offering up almost a Greatest Hits of a retrospective of their best work the twins send a host of ridiculously beautiful models down the catwalk including a bevy of Victoria’s Secret Angels to delight the crowd clad in allsorts of Hunter, Biker, Redneck attire, all of course with that Caten Canadian spin. Now if that wasn’t enough, acting as the finale to the proceedings a certain diva in the shapely form of Ms Mary J. Blige belted out U2’s “One“, without Bono, Thank God.

imageWhat a hard act to follow and talk about going to the other end of the Style spectrum, next up is Jil Sander, debuting Rodolfo Paglialunga first  menswear collection for the label, his voluminous trousers might not have been everyone’s cup of cappuccino, but there is no disputing his mastery in Outerwear and offering a coat to suit everyman.

imageOnto an award winning American designer in Michael Bastian choosing to show his signature collection in Milan, which was quintessentially US Preppy Chic at its best. One could  almost say a rival in the court of Ralph Lauren himself.

imageNext up a fellow Yank, more known for his Rock Star edge then Ivy League, John Varvatos channelled his inner Doris Stokes to summon up incarnations of Bob Dylan. This was a sterling collection for Varvatos offering a highly wearable but in no way boring look in a completely autumnal, sorry Fall like, colour palette.

imageOnwards to Bally then and WOW! Designer Pablo Coppola, looked to one of my favourite films for inspiration in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums” and did not disappoint. Far from being a literally take on the film, not one headband in sight, OK the occasional tennis shoes, Coppola used this reference as a starting block for his collection and then built upon it, in a truly LUXE manner.

imageAs sure as the Italians love Pasta, so to do Dolce & Gabbana love dipping into Italian culture for reference points. Last season it was the Spanish influence on Sicily, which for them was pretty damn loose, but this season the duo drank long and hard from the cup of vino and focused their attention on Il Famiglia. From the Holy Family to the traditional portrait of an extended Italian Family with Mama and Papa.

imageFlying the flag for the British contingent is the grand Dame herself Vivienne Westwood, who took a rather unusual muse, for her punk heritage ways, in the shape of HRH The Prince of Wales. The show started off rather tamely enough, in what could be described as Westwood’s take on Savile Row Tailoring and how in her mind she would probably dress Prince Charles if he was a regular customer of  the Queen of Punk. However as the show developed, it became less the Princely figure we all know and more a character in Dame Viv’s reality of the world, including this brilliant suit complete in Pound note print. Gawd Bless her !

imageAnd from Viv we pass the mantle onto Italy’s very own Grand Dame, Miuccia Prada, who I never knew was a fan of the early 90’s Manchester Music scene as her male models looked highly reminiscent of Bez, Ian Brown, even an Ian Curtis for good measure was present. Like the fashions of this time where we saw lads and lassies wearing a unisex uniform, Prada showed not only her Menswear collection but her Womans Pre-Fall together. No not a pair of Joe Blogs Flares or tie dyed hooded top in sight but reference aplenty to Prada’s Nylon period of the 90’s.

imageLastly, we have Marc Jacobs, no longer preoccupied with his Louis Vuitton duties, Jacobs can now plough all his energies into his own brand and for this Autumn/Winter 15 and he was very much in a dress down Friday sorta mood. For this season, even in the most formal of look he managed to give them a casual feel the most moody of teenagers would be proud of.

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London Collections:MEN Autumn/Winter2013 part I


Following on from the stella success of London Collections:Men‘s launch back in June last year, eveything went quite, in a ohhh God how can we top that kinda way. Well Gawd bless the BFC and it has to be said GQ’s Dylan Jones they’ve only gone and done it ! London Collections:MEN (sorry just cant get use to that name) has bounced back for Autumn/Winter 2013 bigger, better, faster, stronger with a schudule that includes such names as Hackett, Richard James and Rake, keeping the side up for the formal side of Great British Tailoring and Lou Dalton, Richard Nicholl and Christopher Shannon, no surprises there, yeah OK, OK. But, the BFC etc have been on a charm overdrive offensive and have been working their little socks off as they have enticed,drum roll please, Alexander McQueen, Bally and no other then get ready for it Mr Tom Ford to showcase their menwear wares !!!!

Lou Dalton A\W 2013

Lou Dalton A\W 2013

So to kick the proceedings off it fell on the first lady of British mens style, MsLou Dalton, to show the lads how it should be done. She graced us with a much more grown up collection for Dalton, as always, her suiting is impeccably cut, my personal favourites were the tweed numbers. Lou seems to be evolving into a confident and contemporary designer, but more importantly isn’t losing her sense of fun and humour, which Fashion so often lacks at times. Olympian and Strictly come Dancing contestant Victoria Pendleton sat front row flanked by the beautiful Catherine Hayward of British Esquire and fresh from spending his royalty cheque thanks to John Lewis, was 80’s pop icon, Frankie goes to Hollywood front man Holly Johnson.

From this great start I pulled on my hiking boots and headed over to for the launch of luxury brand, Bally, they were conducting their first capsule collection to cememorate the Sixtieth anniversary of the scaling of Mount Everest. Present at this soiree was a mixed bag of celebs which included TV presenter Rick Edwards, Merlin actor Alexander Vlahos, Libertines front man Karl Borat, Swimmer Marc Forster and fonejacker comedine Kayvan Novak , all out to celebrate both this feet of mankind’s conquering of nature’s elements and an unsurprisingly luxourious range by Bally.

John Smedley A\W 2013

John Smedley A\W 2013

Then onto a great colourful presentation laid on by the Forefather of fine gauge knits John Smedley, who have been proudly producing their wonderful knitwear in the UK since 1784 and did you know we have to be grateful to Mr Smedley for the invention on the Long Johns thermal underwear, you learn something new….

From here it was a well earned pit stop at the Bloggers suite care of The St Martins Lane Hotel. The perfect and most luxe way to file copy, check ones email and refill, before out into the breach again. Onwards & upwards !

TopMan Design A\W 2013

TopMan Design A\W 2013

Next up was TopMan Design and what a difference a season makes, no reference to surfers or surfing for this collection, as we saw with their last offering. No it was full on luxury explorer and his sherpa companion travelling and making their way through some urban comtemporary landscape. The first section of the show was very East 17’s “Stay another day”, but in a good way, honest. Then came a full on colour explosion on the senses in Reds and Oranges and if we are to believe Gordon Richardson and his TopMan design team, the Parka IS the coat for next Winter and they offered us options in all shapes, sizes and lengths.

Mr Start A\W 2013

Mr Start A\W 2013

Mr Start was next on my schedule, the uber stylish boutique of East London, where Nick Grimshaw sat next to Designer Henry Holland both with matching haircuts. The fabulous Mr Hare came along and of course a show isn’t quite complete without the two book ends of LC:M Model David Gandy and Man about Town Mr Tenie Tempah. Start offered us a beautifully sophisticated Man of Mystery, drawing on such iconic figures as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy and Mid Sean Connery in his Bond years, almost a modern day vintage super spy. The collection felt rather Miu miu Menswear with its 60’s silhouette.

I can’t finish day 1 of LC:M without mentioning the Hackett show, which had a setting which was equal to how beautiful the collection was, The Crypt of St Paul’s Catherdal no less ! The range was masterfully styled by William Gilchrist and once again illustrated how a true gentleman should dress for every occasion.

Catch up with us tomorrow for the second part of LC:M