John Varvatos Archives - CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

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.

What 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.

Onto 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.

Next 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.

Onwards 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.

As 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.

Flying 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 !

And 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.

Lastly, 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.

The Milan Menswear Shows have come around again and although many are complaining about London stealing Milan’s Thunder with the hugely successful London Collections:Men, surely no one can moan when your schedule contains such household names as Gucci, PRADA, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Calvin Klein, to literally name but a few ????

Dolce & Gabbana

Now, its not uncommon for designers to cite jaunts to far off climbs as inspiration for their collections, but this season in Milan I half expected Judith Charmers to jump out from the end of the Catwalk and start giving me a review of her stay while in Milano. We had Donnatella Versace falling in love with the people of Cuba, there was Stefano Pilati of Ermenegildo Zegna finding divine inspiration from a temple in Greece and Dolce & Gabbana drawing on the Spanish occupation of Sicily and that was for starters.

Calvin Klein

Apart from all that travel malarkey, Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein worked with lots of naked flesh tones for Spring 2015 from pastey whites to sun kissed browns and inserted flashes of primary colours in for good measure.

Missoni

However, over at the House of Missoni nothing could be further from the truth. Angela Missoni working to the tried and trust recipe of producing great clothes in this most wonderful house pattern and not managing to make it look like a dogs dinner.

Prada

Then over at PRADA we saw a collection, where at times you were left puzzled as to whether you were watching a Womenswear or menswear show. Miucchia Prada held her show set around a swimming pool and had both boys and girls parade around it, although very 1970’s inspired garb, at the same time incredibly commercial and equally wearable.

Diesel Black Gold

Diesel Black Gold continued with its reboot under the watchful eye of Nicola Formichetti, who like John Varvatos was on a real military tip mixing a contemporary rebel skater silhouette with Crimean military style jackets.

Fendi

Penultimately, we have an ultra wearable collection for next Spring from Fendi, offering Summer must haves for ever well dressed international jet setters, catering for the rich young things who party in all the beautiful places and insist on being impeccably turned out.

Lastly, we get to those crazy Canadian combo Caten twins, Dean & Dan of DSquared, see the below image as the twins kinda take on military. In their fluro camo print, which we predict will be one of the most ripped off, sorry inspired prints that we see on the high. Street next Summer.

DSquared

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

Good day fellas, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done an AskAnt and the requests and pleas had started to mount up so I though I better pull me sleeves up, and help the good men folk out there. This week’s enquiry came via our twitter account, Clothesmakethem, for those of you interested. Young Donkey has asked ;

OK then, so let’s get this straight Donkey, you don’t want trainers, you don’t want boat shoes, nor toms or sandals nee flip-flops, I really don’t think you’re a work boot and shorts kinda guy. So, this might leave some lesser bloggers stumped, but no sir not me. Right then, off we go, the weather’s kinda starting to warm up, well some days anyway and with that comes that whole pandora’s box of problems of, what to wear with shorts, are shorts appropriate to wear to work, milk bottle legs, I could go on and on.

Anyway, first off, always a classic, or maybe an original is Clarks Originals Desert boots. They come in countless colours, suede, leather, striped, checker board and even Union jack. The Desert Boot is pretty much seasonless and is versatile enough that you can wear it with a suit, jeans or even shorts. Plus, obviously you can pay a pretty penny for them but overall Desert Boots, particularly Clarks Originals are really good value for money and super comfy.

Option 2, I’d advise you to look at the good old, Plimsoll and automatically when you think of Plimsolls you think of Converse. Now like the Desert Boot, the Plimsoll is unbelievably versatile and nowadays can be dressed up with a suit or dressed down with a pair of shorts. The overriding great thing with Converse is you can be conservative and go with simple white, in the Jack Purcell’s, who were launched by the badminton player in 1935 and you’d ask why not who wouldn’t, they’re a design classic that should be in every man’s wardrobe as a staple. Now, the other choice is you can be as adventurous as you want as they offer you the chance to design your own at their website http://www.converse.co.uk/. But I have to say, my personal preference has to be with their designer collaborations. Now their Missoni Chuck Taylor’s (or high tops as their more widely known) might not be everyone’s cup of tea but take a look at their John Varvatos tie up, available at, amongst others, www.MrPorter.com

Your final option is, a little leftfield and certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but what I’m going to present to you is the Mock or Mocks. They come in an array of hues and are inspired by moccasins (if you hadn’t guessed), these lightweight Driving shoe hybrid feature a lemon scented, odour resistant Coolmax insole, which I thought would be ideal, particularly with your urban cycling. The super lightweight Mock is available from branches of Schuh.

So YoungDonkey, all that is left for me to do is to tell you, the choice is yours ??? Do let us know what your decision was and join us again soon for another style clinic.

A.M.

Milan Menswear Shows Hightlights – Autumn/Winter 2015

Milan Menswear Shows -Shows Review -Spring /Summer 2015

Milano Moda Uomo (Milan Menswear Shows AW14)

Shoes for a long-ish hot-ish Summer – AskAnt

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