Raf Simons Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012
Raf Simons took elements of masculine and feminine dressing and mixed those into a sporty, tailored collection. Delicate floral prints, pleats, broderie anglaise and shades of pink were applied to modern, angular silhouettes. The models – with long, wet bangs – wore shorts with slits, boxy white shirts or overcoats with backs in floral prints and pleated skirts. Simons also presented long pants worn with colorful sneakers. Some T-shirts had illustrations of women.
DSquared Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
The DSquared-collection reminded of hard-core club gear, with Dean and Dan Caten using Village People leather caps, safety pin chains, tangles of black crucifixes, cobweb embroidery and neon and leopard-print accents to sex up their standard acts: sharp tailoring with cropped jackets and fitted pants, form-fitting white shirts, distressed denim and the like.
Giorgio Armani Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Easy Comfort. Giorgio Armani sent out a legion of unstructured silhouettes ranging from gently rumpled jackets with unpadded shoulders to the laid-back white suits, with Bermuda shorts that closed the show. ‘This is a sexy man, but a classy one, a classy gigolo,’, the designer told reporters of WWD. Well, he was the man who set a new sartorial standard for the male archetype in 1980 when he dressed Richard Gere for his first major film role in American Gigolo.
Knits ranged from the loose fitting to the more body-conscious. Sports jackets — some the color of faded denim — had a breezy, lived-in look.
After the show, Armani told reporters that designers have a role to play in educating men and improving the way they look. “Fashion has reached grotesque levels, and [with this collection] I felt the need to stand my ground, to improve men aesthetically.”
Missoni Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
With models stepping on colored sand arranged in chevron shapes, Angela Missoni presented a collection for fashion nomads. The house’s fine, patterned knits — with their aged, sandy aspect — looked as though they came from under some desert rock. The weave pattern crept across military-flavored utility jackets, part of the brand’s expanding outerwear offer.
As the show progressed, color stepped in, with beetle-green sequins glinting across the chest of a crewneck sweater, or a zigzag blaze of poppy, ruby and pink threads erupting on a short-sleeve brown Henley in ribbed cotton and linen.
Etro Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
The Etro-collection was a result of a trip to India that designer Kean Etro took: a sun-faded, breezy collection of paisley print clothing. Models wore silky overcoats, baggy trousers pooled around the feet, and long tunic tops. More structured silhouettes included wrinkled red or white drummer-boy jackets with matching frogging across the front, olive linen military style jackets embroidered with rose-colored threads, and one neat navy jacket with a raised herringbone weave.
Gucci Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini used a rich and vivid Mediterranean color palette for her youthful tailoring and retro-style holiday clothes.
What to think of head-to-toe green, watermelon and cobalt ? It sounds screaming loud, but in real they were rendered in dry, crisp fabrics like raffia, washed cotton and cotton jersey. Giannini embraced monochromatic dressing with sharp, slim suits or sweater-pant combos in shades like rust or sky blue, but she also presented tailored blazers, often double-breasted, over slim white chinos. Every look was finished with the house’s iconic horse-bit loafers, celebrating their 60th birthday next year.
Calvin Klein Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
The most important parts of American sportswear gave designer Italo Zucchelli inspiration for his Calvin Klein collection. The T-shirts, jeans jackets, chinos and shorts, they all came with a technical or luxury spin. Expect a come back of stone washed jeans, boxy jackets, carrot-shaped pants and T-shirts in nylon mesh. The surfer florals were the only variation, on shorts, shirts and suits.
Prada Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Prada took the audience back in time with her menswear-collection. She wanted return to something simple she told editors. Simpel it was, for instance no prints, no funny colors. There were seventies silhouettes and vintage-colors, but what stood out was the graphic play with colors blocking and contrast. The underlying feeling was sporty and athletic, like the tank tops and tennis sweaters plus the sports-slippers.
The shapes were straightforward: two-button suits with patch pockets and slightly flared pants, polo shirts with contrasting collars and plackets, short-sleeve leisure jackets and tubular coats. A band of contrasting color flashed inside the pant legs. Broad borders appeared on trim, lightweight coats.
Bottega Veneta Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Tomas Maier took Seventies California as his source of inspiration. The result: loose, pullover tunic tops in buttery brown, gray, and pale olive. Some had lace-up details at the neck or hippie fringes at the bottom. It all had a relaxed and luxurious feeling. The crumpled suits and lightweight coats looked great, especially in those dusty colors like red, cement, teal and taupe.
More structured and slim–fitting suits looked as if they were stained with spilt coffee or tea at first glance, but it was actually a faded flowerprint. Those flowerprints came also back as an all over pattern.
Ferragamo Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Designer Massimiliano Giornetti was inspired by L.A.’s Pop Art scene in the seventies and the work of artist David Hockney. Result: lots of clashing bright colors like orange, spearmint, lemon-yellow, red and pastel blues and greens. The style had a crisp, sporty vibe.
The colors were splashed with Seventies-style belted car coats, lightweight cotton blazers with contrast piping, carrot pants, double-sided cotton trenches, and leather sneakers. It was an all optimistic collection, but the colorblocking was sometimes a bit too overwhelming.
