An urban gang of friends. A group of bikers that decide to embark on a long journey. The destination is the African continent, filled with suggestions, inspirations and excitement. During their travel, the bikers elevate themselves, discover tribes and traditions and make their own and contribute in their personal way. This is the journey of Les Hommes for the Fall Winter 2016-17 Collection.
Following the path traced by their bikers, Creative Directors Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch, bring to the runway a crescendo of exoticisms. Starting from a monochrome urban environment, to gradually move towards an essential yet permanent tribalism, the collection features great menswear classics inspired by the world of motorcycles.
Perfecto jackets in total black, bomber jackets and performance fabric pants gradually shift away from the rigor of the city to play with voodoo-inspired graphics to reach the boundaries of op-art. It is a world in which hardware details often recur. Showers of studs on shirts, suits and bomber jackets are inspired by primitive body modifications that bestow a sophisticated yet rough touch.
Layers of wools and oversize scarves recall the richness and the layering of Central Africa costumes. All fabrics are unique and exclusive. From 3D jacquard to leather appliqués, bonding techniques and inlayed jersey, the creative duo studied every single detail with artisanal know how.
The ending is almost pop, filled with colors and multi-material 3D geometries with a hint of fine couture inspiration. White, black and grey are the basic colors of an essential palette among which cobalt blue, previously seen on models’ hair, creeps in.
Accessories are minimized. No bags in this long journey. Just studded gloves and bandanas. And solid black boots in a clean or studded version.
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Tags: FALL WINTER 2016-17, LES HOMMES, LES HOMMES FW 2016-17
Tue, April 19 2016 » Fashion Blog
‘REAL OPULENCE’
In his first menswear collection for Roberto Cavalli creative director Peter Dundas establishes a blueprint for the new Cavalli man, proposing a wardrobe for the twenty-first century dandy. The fall 2016 collection is the first step inside his wardrobe – a mix, a melange, a melding of casual and tailored elements, juxtaposing the precious and the everyday. This is clothing you can believe in, but still fantasise about. An homage to opulence, but also to reality.
The collection is infused with the freedom of the late sixties and early seventies: sensual, sexual, divinely decadent. Exploring the symbiosis between Cavalli’s clothing and the performance wardrobe of the world’s greatest rock stars, Peter Dundas references emblematic images of his own musical heroes: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, George Harrison, Gram Parsons and Serge Gainsbourg.
They epitomise the era’s fusion of elegance and extravagance, a fluid sexuality that never less had nothing androgynous about it. The fall 2016 Cavalli man is presented as a rock icon, his masculinity made even more potent by the touches of femininity in his attire. The mood is of bohemia. The collection riffs on a new Cavalli menswear vernacular, pulling archetypal pieces from the Cavalli archives, but reinvigorating them with a contemporary energy. Animal prints, intricately worked furs, embroideries inspired by the orient and India, decoration in abundance. All are present, endlessly mixed, but given the nonchalant attitude of today.
The palette is muted: bitter chocolate and rust, dusty rose, sepia and tobacco, embedded with jewel tones: ameythst, emerald and ruby. Dark tweeds are threaded with peridot green and kingfisher blue, contrasted with supple silks, metallic lamé, and the glimmer of sequins, even for day. The silhouette is long and lean, trousers flaring slightly, shoulders narrow, jackets elongated, coats dusting the calves. Traditional gentleman’s suiting in wool and tweed is combined with jacquards and prints referencing the work of William Morris. Flora and fauna invade classic patterns like polka-dot shirts or fair isle knits, with darting dragonflies and wriggling snakes.
Cavalli’s signature big cat prints are once more in abundance, joined by patterns derived from trompe-l’oeil kimono embroideries, and foulard silks cut into fluid lounging pyjama styles. Those add a hint of loucheness to the wardrobe. They are worn for evening – but never in bed. Roberto Cavalli’s expertise in leather is showcased in patchwork jackets of precious snake, or embroidered calf, the patterned extended to sneakers and chelsea boots embroidered with recreations of the organic prints in leather applique. Fur – faux and real – add touches of unapologetic luxury.
Peter Dundas has always been inspired by the powerful, sensual women to whom Cavalli’s masculine icons are inevitably drawn: he showcases a selection of his pre-fall 2016 Roberto Cavalli womenswear collection alongside the men, further emphasising the unity of the house’s new creative spirit. These models meander through the grandeur of the Palazzo Crespi – a palazzo/casa, or museum-home, its opulent beauty is nevertheless resolutely part of the real world. Just like the wardrobe of the Robert Cavalli man, and woman.
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Tags: FALL WINTER 2016-17, Roberto Cavalli, ROBERTO CAVALLI FW 2016-17
Mon, April 18 2016 » Fashion Blog
Fri, April 15 2016 » Fashion Blog
A cutting-edge Couture Statement.
In the era of images, where everyone seeks to embellish, distinguish and advertise himself, Stefano Pilati defines the Ermenegildo Zegna Fall Winter 2016/17 collection by making the act of embellishment a “classic”.
The Couture line, pinnacle to the Ermenegildo Zegna offering, is now harmoniously blended with the concept of “embellishment”, becoming the manifesto of a unique “Haute Couture for men” proposal: an exceptionally sophisticated wardrobe ruled by fearless style.
The traditional manual tailoring statute of the brand is charmingly translated into an exhibition of patterns, primary inspiration behind the FW16 collection. The most iconic masculine motifs from around the world have been collected and fused into the lushness of the fabrics that keep emphasizing the Haute Couture attitude in an effortless and yet ‘extremely Zegna’ way.
All over the fabrics are embellished with three dimensional hand embroideries realized in Italy, ornamental motifs and woven patchwork of jacquards patterns: from super fine Lanificio Zegna wools to recycled polyester.
The result is a truly authentic Couture collection, where the clothes themselves deliver the essence of an intuitive elegance unregulated in its formality, able to emphasize the Zegna identity and, at the same time, to meet the intrinsic Vanitas of secret male fantasies.
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Tags: ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA COUTURE, ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA COUTURE FW 2016-17, FALL WINTER 2016-17
Wed, April 13 2016 » Fashion Blog
MOD’S NEW ERA
Mod, as in Modernism. Mod as in Modern Jazz, or new swing music giving origin to the term. Mod as in culture of renewal. Mod, as in youth movement refusing life’s usual surrender, not succumbing to the obvious, and by contrast pursuing ever renewable solutions. Mod as in kind and gentle male culture, peace-loving and reflective. Mod as in casual ease, randomness, at once a way of living and style of dress where imperfection and apparent disorder become the means for making a quick yet content-rich personal statement on modernity.
«I wanted a man very masculine of image and attitude, hardly aggressive, comfortable with his own culture; a man who deals with reality minus the conflictuality of the times and who, without any sense of gender conflict, mixes masculine and feminine but does not confuse personalities and physical appearances», Alessandro Dell’Acqua says about his No. 21 fall/winter 2016 collection.
From here came a collection that’s an invitation to express kindness and courtesy: very mannish clothes in combo with others having typically feminine references, meanwhile drawing freshly from the Mod aesthetic: that pursuit of refinement which remains the last elaboration of a non-conventional male elegance. Applications of gros grain, velvet and crepe de chine passementerie make for precious yet poorish-looking embroidery trim on anoraks, parkas, melton coats, combat-pants pockets.
The crumpled twill of long lingerie style tanks and of classic or bomber-cut shirts offers a fine hint of disheveledness under the striped or speckled mohair sweaters. Shearlings cover crumpled wool shirts, melton or crumpled wool pants with a bicolor flair at the waist. There are also animal print parkas, anoraks, bouclé coats with passementerie trim, leather jackets.
All items come in a palette of hues sweeping from khaki to powder pink, from black-green to cinnamon, all the way to bold black for the classic coats, for sweats and shirts complete with tone-on-tone embroidery. This is a man who dares mixing masculine and feminine references to construct a look bordering on the offhand – which may seem less than perfect at first glance but which results in a coherence between his feelings and the image of himself he wants to convey to others.
He is a man who sports sneakers in a fabric matching his clothes and with the same type of passementerie trim as on his parkas and anoraks, likewise for the leather sneaks. And on his shoulders he carries an oversize canvas or leather rucksack to hold his everyday needs, whether for a week or just a day. Always thinking about that only apparent randomness which entails coherent projects and plans.
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Tags: FALL WINTER 2016-17, N°21, N°21 FW 2016-17
Tue, April 12 2016 » Fashion Blog
A MAN OF STYLE
The centre of gravity for trousers and jackets is considerably higher, shoulders are wider, as are waists to a lesser degree, and lapels are more obvious: for AW 2016 the Corneliani man builds his style by looking to the fashion of the 1940s.
He analyses, masters and revitalizes it, interpreting it through the lens of contemporary language, where elegance wavers between two extremes: essential versatility and the supreme quality of the details, an increasing indicator of class and shaper of personality.
This is the framework for a much softer, more rounded, deconstructed, lighter style, fashioned most appealingly from exquisite, enveloping materials.
The retro feel – from crocheted details on the waistcoats to micro-geometric effects borrowed from the archives and herringbones, so subtle they look like pinstripes both micro and macro – reflects 1940s elegance in the shape of caramel, bark brown and tobacco coloured suits and peacock green and lead grey jackets, both single and double breasted.
Mid-length cashmere coats are oversized and designed to be tied at the waist; the nylon trench is ultra-lightweight, while stitching and astrakhan touches play down the sporty look of the bomber jacket.
The stiff, textured feel of post-Second-World-War fashion is hinted at subtly in the contours of the designs, which break away from the body to restore a sense of independent strength to fashion, all with a whisper of nostalgia.
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Tags: CORNELIANI, CORNELIANI FW 2016-17, FALL WINTER 2016-17
Mon, April 11 2016 » Fashion Blog
Fri, April 8 2016 » Fashion Blog
Fri, April 8 2016 » Fashion Blog
Thu, April 7 2016 » Fashion Blog
ART FOR ALL
With thanks to Gilbert & George
When Jeremy Scott visited Gilbert & George for tea, the designer told the artists how he loves the way clothes appear in their monumental body of work, The Pictures. To create depth and movement or, at least, this illusion in these gridded, saturated 2D photographic assemblies, the artists emphasise the dark indentations of shadow and flashes of light at fold and seam.
Might, Scott respectfully enquired, they consider allowing Moschino to recreate the effect on real clothing? To add their 2D to Scott’s 3D, then see what dimension we land in? Not only were Gilbert & George 100 per cent in, but they also invited Scott to sample anything he desired from their illustrious archive of work for this collection. “How thrilling Jeremy loves our art so much he wants to put it all over his trousers!” they said.
Scott added: “There are so many reasons why Gilbert & George’s work resonates so strongly with me: the saturated colors, the slogans, the provocative nature of so many of their subjects. I feel not only a visual attachment to their art but an emotional bond as well. So it’s an honor to bring their art into my fashion and create a hybrid of the two.”
The result? A highly wearable body of work that revels in the punch and dissent of British Art’s filthiest, responsibly-suited iconoclasts as interpreted in cloth by fashion’s pre-eminent subverter of the pop and iconic. From The Pictures there are collaged coats, knit cardigans and MA-1 jackets with patches of the artists’ images of young men’s faces. You’ll see typography, words and phrases from Gilbert & George’s art.
A further group with tailcoats and sharp suits is peppered with crucifix patches that recall their 1982 piece entitled YOUTH FAITH. The tightened grids and grenade flower-bursts on suits and bombers strongly relate to the walls of the Tate. Scott found one G&G subject captured for posterity, wearing a vintage Moschino peace-print tee: so, in a doubly-reflexive semiotic pirouette, Scott reappropriated the print then twisted it into jacquards.
The house Moschino question mark logo is reflected over itself in a nod to that Gilbert & George touchstone. And Scott assembled his own hyper-colour collage of the artists’ abstract images on woollen topcoats, jeans and M-65’s. Because both artists and designers are anti-establishmentarians to their cores, there’s a fiery blast of punk and plenty of future-facing gender crossover.
Just as in the work of Gilbert & George, the more you look, the more you’ll see. As the artists sometimes say: “the whole world should be an art gallery”. With a runway attached…
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2016-17, MOSCHINO, MOSCHINO FW 2016-17
Wed, April 6 2016 » Fashion Blog
