Balmain Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2016

For his debut men’s wear show for Balmain, Olivier Rousteing was pretty good prepared. He kicked off with the hardcore techno track “Prepare for Glory.” He tapped the world’s most successful male model, Sean O’Pry, to open and close the show. And he stacked the catwalk with beauties like Alessandra Ambrosio, dressed in women’s resort. For inspiration, Rousteing looked to the great adventurers of the early 20th century — but this was safari male to the max.

Leather jackets were intricately latticed and laced, while a tobacco-hued explorer suit came spliced with a double-breasted jacket with gold buttons. In a nod to hip-hop culture, butter-soft suede was draped into a cowl-necked vest and slouchy drop-crotched pants, while a black sweatshirt glistened with a web of gold hardware. Rousteing plastered his signature gold crests, some featuring a lion’s head or a Union Jack flag, on jackets, including a tiger-striped ponyskin bomber with black leather sleeves, and a trim black blazer with satin lapels

Louis Vuitton Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2016

Kim Jones, menswear designer of Louis Vuitton, likes to travel. Looking for rare animals, hidden crafts and remote landscapes. In Myanmar last year, Jones came across a tribe whose handmade costumes — loosely cut and bearing dynamic stripes — brought to mind modern streetwear and a whiff of the Eighties hip-hop scene. More recently in Japan, he discovered Kobe leather, named after the pampered cows that produce that prized beef.

Jones dappled exotic prints and embroideries, mainly plucked from Southeast Asia, across traditional Ivy League silhouettes. He hit on souvenir jackets, also sending out sweatshirt versions and similar pajama sets decorated with birds of paradise, cranes and monkeys lodged in bamboo.

Accessories were mostly  totes in supple versions of monogram canvas that are, like the souvenir jackets and those coats in the thinnest leather, reversible.

Givenchy Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2016

Dries van Noten Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2016

Dries van Noten honored Hollywood bombshell Marilyn Monroe, in his spring collection. There were black-and-white photo prints on suits, capes, shirts, sweaters, boxer shorts, you name it. And it will sure ignite a trend.  This collection echoed other Paris runwayshows in pointing to a more embellished path for men’s wear. Van Noten added sparkly embroideries and sequins to his roomy, vaguely Fifties clothes as Elvis Presley crooned “Love Me Tender”.  Besides Monroe’s lips, lobsters were a recurrent motif, winking to Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, among “creative provocateurs” Van Noten cited as references.

The designer choose looser silhouettes, teaming his slouchy double-breasted jackets and boxy camp shirts with skater shorts.

Raf Simons Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2015

The flared black trouser legs puddled around the feet. The models’ heads were cloaked in checkered scarves, obstructing their view.  The space glowed red and the rave music rumbled. Raf Simons still knows how to set a mood of youthful rebellion, and the electricity of a fashion happening. There was certainly a punk spirit to his oversize macs riddled with grommets in geometric formations.  Edgy too were his oversize grommet-studded nylon rucksacks, which models lugged on heavy chains draped over one shoulder, dragging around their belongings like a burden.

The rest of the collection felt more familiar, as Simons continued to experiment with the narrow, elongated shapes he introduced for fall. There was his shrunken Seventies sweater vests, which helped exaggerate the oversized pants. Tailored jackets were either lean or gently oversized in sturdy woolens.

Streetstyle Icon: Chiara Ferragni

Don’t let her playful appearance full you; Chiara Ferragni may be a blogger on the outside, she’s a true business babe on the inside. Her blog The Blonde Salad has been named one of the most influential fashion blogs worldwide for years now, which makes Chiara part of the bloggers elite. In 2009 Chiara, who had a big passion for fashion, started sharing her looks. Six years later the Italian beauty reaches millions of fans around the globe with her outfit blogposts and makes a six figure salary. Her style may still be playful, the strawberry blond blogger only gets dressed in designer clothes nowadays. The biggest brands even ask her to sport their clothing before it’s presented on the runway. So don’t act surprised if you see Chiara in full on Burberry or Moschino looks that haven’t even had their catwalk debut yet. And just so you know Nike, Bottega Veneta, Isabel Marant, Kenzo, Calvin Klein, Converse and Proenza Schouler’s PR people are on her speed dial too. Blogging business is going well for this lady, who besides her Milan apartment has a second home in L.A. now, where she can get used to living the life of a Hollywood star.

Model Focus: Kendall Jenner

Together with Gigi Hadid, whom we discussed here earlier, Kendall Jenner is THE rising star in the fashion/modeling/showbiz industry. She rose to fame being part of the Kardashians family and therefore making her appearance on the TV show Keeping up with the Kardashians. But as soon as she turned 18 Kendall was off to make a career for herself, as a model that is. Whether her famous family helped or opposed this, the tall, slender brunette quickly got picked up by some of the biggest brands. Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Bottege Veneta, Balmain; we could hardly keep up with her. Givenchy, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs campaigns in the pocket. Vogue, Interview, Harpers and Love magazine features all around. Famous friends Gigi Hadid and Hailey Baldwin always by her side. Not to mention her flings with superstars like Justin Bieber and Harry Styles. Whether she’s chilling at Coachella, having a good time at a Chris Brown concert or hosting an MTV award show; Kendall is always in the right place, at the right time, surrounded by the right people. There’s no stopping this Jenner. And this is all just the beginning..

Gucci Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2016

Gucci’s new designer Alessandro Michele presented his first official menswear-collection. This collection  amplified his idiosyncratic, “genderless” approach as he lavished his thrift shop Seventies collection with florid embroideries of exotic birds, butterflies and flowers.
Choral music played as the the often bespectacled models walked a 300-foot runway. Except for the radical bell-bottomed pants and jeans that puddled over Corvette red loafers, almost every garment and accessory was embellished, from fur trim on jade green silk robes and silvery botanicals crawling over a red tracksuit to the punk studs lining the Achilles tendon of silvery sneakers. On Michele’s coed runway, the line between suits and pajamas blurred in a barrage of lavish silk brocades and wallpaper prints. Bow blouses, or ones with pointy collars or sailor airs, were worn by both sexes — and sometimes it was hard to tell him from her.
The press has been gentle on the unassuming Michele, embracing his daring neo-dandyism and recognizing his influence. Let’s see what his customers will say.

 

Dolce & Gabbana Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2016

Each new collection from Dolce & Gabbana now presents a revision of signatures old (like the strict tailoring), and new, like the oversize geisha silhouette. But there’s never a sense of the banality that you might expect to attach itself to the overly familiar. That’s because the clothes are infused with a visual intensity that transcends the kitschiness of the imagery to become something verging on celebration. The parade of peacocks and dragons and swallows darting through bamboo forests that passed down the catwalk was indeed a catalog of kitsch, but by the time those elements had been printed on a silk boot or embroidered on a lace shirt or knitted into a cardigan sweater, they’d become facets of a collection that also featured three-piece suits and patched jeans and summery striped pants and an army of polo shirts. A whole lot of separates, in other words—suggestions for integrating even the most extravagant piece into a wardrobe.

 

 

 

 

 

Prada Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2016

Tailoring was the anchor in the menswear-collection of Prada. Sport jackets, dusters and topcoats were trim, breezy and unlined, made distinctive with contrast stitching and the freewheeling way Prada paired them with short shorts. Zip-neck racer knits and filmy silk shirts, meanwhile, boasted naïve graphics representing that long-eared creature, or race cars.

The latter motif mushroomed into pants and zippered blousons resembling pilots’ uniforms, banded or piped in safety orange and patched with utility pockets. The shorts also came in leather, shown with plunging tanks or boxy, zippered jackets.

 

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