Dior Homme Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

Kris van Assche seems capable of letting his severe, sartorial look go en soften it with lightweight and youthful tailoring. ‘Simplicity is the true luxury’, according to the designer. And so he presented sleeveless trenchcoats, lightweight linen parkas and paper-light jackets. Black, gray and sandywhite were his main colors. Low-slung trousers were tucked into sandals.

To add a different touch to his simplicity Van Assche used samurai references, like Mao-collars or V-shaped necklines similar to kimonos. Some tops reminded of Hedi Slimane’s first collection for Dior, with the sleeveless faux-wrap shirts. Those were wonderful and new and they still seem appropriate in their renewed version.

Streetfashion Paris Menswear SS201 Day 2

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Givenchy-slippers, your latest Comme des Garcons-bermuda or that vintage Prada? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: menswear fashionweek in Paris.

John Galliano Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

The set at John Galliano’s menswear-show looked like Charlie Chaplin’s movie Modern Times, and hey – who opened the show? The legendary filmmaker/actor himself – well, a look-a-like. And later on he was followed by Buster Keaton.

Galliano wanted to make a statement about new proportions in menswear and the shrunken jacket and baggy pants – which were the signature look of Chaplin – were a good start. As was the three-piece suit and all Buster Keaton used to wear. These two looks dominated the show, dropped crotch pants, jackets fitted to the body, a little dandyism in lurex trench-coats and pale suits. The movie Death in Venice inspired Galliano and his team for the bathing-suits and bathrobes.

Funny that after so many decades a frumpy suit of two almost forgotten actors are feeling new after the slick, made to measure fashion of the past years. That’s the power of fashion. You’ll get fed up with perfect clothes and suddely you realize you are longing for imperfection and a different style. Et voila, your prayers are heard.

Givenchy Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

This week Givenchy announced that the fashion house will no longer present it’s couture collection on the runway. Instead the couture collections will be showed to a selected audience somewhere in Paris. Luckily this doesn’t mean the end of the ready to wear shows, so today we could still enjoy Riccardo Tisci’s designs on the runway in Paris.

Tisci chose Victorian Circus as the theme for his menswear collection. And apparently that meant black & white fashion (with shiny prints in the same color), animal prints and leather masks.

The models had short hair or had their hair combed back. They walked the runway with their hands in their pockets. In between all the male models there were three women. They wore heavy make-up, were dressed in leopard prints and looked kinda creepy. Four of the male models wore a mask that covered everything but their eyes.

Of course with this Tisci proved he has some guts, but it didn’t make a lot of sense. And it surely didn’t make his clothes look better. Cause apart from some print-less jackets the collection was not really a success. Most clothes looked over the top; lace sweaters, transparent blouses, leather pants,  spinal-cord necklaces and a T-shirt with a joker face as a print.

And the overkill of leopard prints..we just didn’t get it. Haven’t we seen enough of the leopard prints already? And seriously..what guy is going to wear a leopard printed skirt?

The name ‘circus’ was right for this hard-core collection, yet Tisci must realise his clothes eventually will have to sell too. Otherwise the menswear shows might soon come to an end too….

Comme des Garcons Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

It was a beautiful and scary collection Comme des Garcons presented today. Skulls were everywhere: at the back of the model’s head, but mainly as an Escher-like print at skirts, shirts, suits. In black and white and – ha ha, very funny – with glasses in contrasting blue or covered by flowers you’ll find on a graveyard.

What was the deeper meaning of this collection? The only explanation designer Rei Kawakubo gave was ‘ Skull of Life’. Yeah, right. I mean, Alexander McQueen did it a long time ago and even recently at his last menswearcollection. He even made skulls of flowers. And this CdG-collection didn’t seem as an homage to the British designer. He never used it so ubiquitously.

Checkered flag-prints accentuated the punkisch vibe of the collection. The clothes were kept simple: blazers, cropped trousers, shirts and full skirts. No, I think Kawakubo just don’t want us to be afraid of skulls, she wants us to embrace them. From now on skulls are no longer meant for hard rockers, goths or whatever dark subculture.

Walter van Beirendonck Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

Hope. Read my skin. That was the message at Van Beirendonck’s invitation for his ss2011-show in Paris this afternoon. The Belgian designer always tries to put his worries about certain thing in society in his collections. And he always tries to be optimistic and make you at least smile a little.

With is humor, colorful prints and exaggerated styles he makes his men into characters from a comic-book. But exaggerating gets the best attention and so does Van Beirendonck. This time he aimed at violence and war and he dressed his models in innocent white overalls or happy combinations of jackets and pants with colorful checks or flowers  all over. He decorated the clothes with huge bullet-straps or used the straps as accessories. There were also shirts with applications and words like Fear and Faith and T-shirts reading “Courage, Never give up Hope”.

Intriguing was the part made of fabric with little holes in it. Suits, shirts, cargo-pants and T-shirts had holes all over as if a hundred bullets had hit them. It was not  only decorating but the holes also formed the words we already saw in the rest of the collection. Well, this is something we will see again in the big fashion-chains  within a few months.

Streetfashion Paris Menswear SS2011 Day 1

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Givenchy-slippers, your latest Comme des Garcons-bermuda or that vintage Prada? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: menswear fashionweek in Paris.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

For his spring summer 2011-collection Dries van Noten looked at the mod and ska, two Britisch subcultures. From the mods he took the precise tailoring and classic coats. The ska-influence was visible in the snow washed denim, sleeveless t-shirts, short jackets and the black and white.

The styling looked a bit boyish now and then with the baggy bermudas, armyboots and doublebreasted jackets. Navy, white and black were the main colors, with a touch of seventies brown.

Some shirts and jackets stood out because of the splashed watercolors, they were actually handpainted by a couture-atelier in Lake Como. But somehow this was not one of Van Noten’s best collections. It looked a bit forced and lacked that typical casual/romantic/gentleman feeling.

Yves Saint Laurent Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

Before the YSL show started today, guests got a peek at the latest short film No Way Back. It’s a short documentary about tattoo artist Mark Mahoney. It didn’t have anything to do with the YSL fashion house, but it showed yet another form of art.

Stefano Pilati gave his models a very clean look today. Their hair was tidy, their skin looked good and their eyes were focussed. The clothes also had a clean cut and all the fuss was left behind. What we saw, were well-tailored designs. Those weren’t necessarily very trendy, yet gave the men a sophisticated look.

Pleated pants and fully buttoned blouses were combined with suit jackets. Over those jackets wide bands were placed, around the waist in some looks. In other outfits the male models wore small waist-belts.

Their were multiple shorts, which amazed us at first sight, while they were high-waisted, wide and short. They had small classic prints on them and were worn with sandals.

Overall there were no unnecessary accessories, prints or extra layers. Also, colors were absent; instead Pilati used natural shades like beige, grey, dark brown and black.

Less is more.

Junya Watanabe Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

Breton stripes are Watanabe’s main trend for next year. He used them throughout his whole collection. At first they popped up from under some suit jackets, later we saw them in combination with some toggle coats. Towards the end the models wore striped sweaters (with big front pockets) on white shorts.

Although Breton stripes are already a hit right now and therefore are not renewing at all, they did gave the collection it’s extra sailor’s twist. The sailor hats, the rolled up legs and the toggle coats matched with that perfectly.

By the way, the models looked like a bunch of sweaty sailors. Though they wore some high quality clothing, they were a mess. Their hair was all wet and their faces looked red and tired.

Watanabe’s coats and jackets were the highlight of the show; well made and with a proper fit. Especially the multiple variations of the toggle coat were a strong part of the collection. The white and blue jeans will also do well in stores next spring. Yet the Breton striped sweaters were kind of corny, since we are getting tired of this trend already.

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