Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Roberto Cavalli

Woven leather pants with metallic mesh tops at Roberto Cavalli, topped with plaid shirts and rugged parkas.

Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010 : Emporio Armani

The Emporio Armani show for fall/winter 2010 opened with a few groups of models wearing different sets of sportswear. The clothes were often made out of sporty rubber and most models wore crazy bonnets to finish their looks.

After the sport-influenced clothes many suits came by. Those – pretty tight – suits mostly came in grey. Grey happened to be the main color of the collection, representing the landscape of the big city (asphalt grey, rainy day grey). Yet it was often mixed with neon-colors to add a techno edge to the outfits. The many zippers on those outfits added to that feeling.

Since the show was all about geometry, many suits had small checks or circles in black and white. Armani also presented some graphic knitwear.

The accessories for the show were hats (which the models carried on their backs), sunglasses and gloves. The models walked the catwalk on big shoes that matched the shades of grey of their outfits.

At the end Armani showed the results of his collaboration with Reebok. About thirty models came on to the runway at the same time, wearing nothing but some men’ s briefs and the new EA7/Reebok shoes. We have to admit, we had a hard time focusing on those shoes!

Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Bottega Veneta

Again, Thomas Maier proved he is a clever designer and a good judge regarding what men want: good quality clothes that bring out the little boy in them.

In his fall 2010 collection for Bottega Veneta Maier played with proportions, colors (dark blues, purple and red) and he took the outspoken rockabilly-style as his inspiration. That means: formal menswear mixed with jeans with a rebellious touch and well groomed models.

Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Burberry Prorsum

The collection Christopher Bailey presented yesterday for Burberry Prorsum was one of his strongest and focused of past seasons. He cut out all the crap, and what was left over were strong, big coats inspired by army-wear (off course, Burberry’s heritage lies in the trenches of World War I) – from army-green, big coats with golden buttons to bulky aviator-jackets and comfy marine-duffels. All a man needs besides coats like these are a shirt (washed denim, grey or off white), a soft knit, a slim pant in black and a pair of army-boots. And maybe a jacket for more formal occasions – but he only needs te coat to make a good impression.

Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Jil Sander

Raf Simons still tries to push the boundaries of traditional menswear at Jil Sander without being silly or looking forced. By using the best fabrics and skills of experienced tailors he manages to present a collection that’s far ahead of others and also very daring. I mean: who would put mobile pockets at jackets or lift the waistline? This was a tailored wardrobe injected with energy, with a concrete focus on shape and a forthlooking approach, using texture and construction to define a confident masculinity.

Milan Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Dolce & Gabbana

Ennio  Morricone’s music added that special drama to the Dolce & Gabbana-show, which was a tribute to Giuseppe Tornatore’s new movie Baaria – nominated for this years Oscars. The collection seemed also a tribute to the label itself, which celebrates it’s 20-th anniversary this year. And that means heritage Sicilian workwear in black and white, lot’s of grey, dirty jeans and shoes, destroyed knits, tight T-shirts and old fashioned underwear. The longjohn is definitively back as a fashion-item. As is the laced up armyboot.

Trends ss2010: the men’s skirt

The men’s skirt has been all over the news lately. Maybe because fashion brand H&M recently introduced a men’s skirt for their spring/summer collection 2010. And usually when H&M comes up with a trend it is picked up by many followers.

Of course H&M is not the first brand to introduce the men’s skirt. We’ve seen this fashion item on the runway for years. One true lover and wearer of skirts is designer  Marc Jacobs, who takes his bows most of the time dressed in a kilt.

This year there were some skirts in the menswear collections as well. At Thom Browne we spotted an ultra short version, at the show of Jean Paul Gaultier (one of the first designers with skirts for men)  the skirts were much longer. Rick Owens’ models wore multiple layers, one of those layers being the skirt. Other brands which had skirts in their collection were John Galliano, Francisco van Benthum and Kris van Assche.

We’re very curious if the skirt will become the trend for men in 2010.

Trends ss2010: sporty fashion

Hoodies, zippers, caps, sleeveless tops, short shiny jackets and net fabrics dominated the menswear collections for 2010. That can only mean one thing: sports influences.

There was the basketball look (Kris van Assche), the gymnastic look (Francisco van Benthum, Calvin Klein) and the football look (Bikkembergs). There were sailing types (Burberry), the boxer types (Ann DeMeulemeester), the diving types (Moncler Gamme Blue, Gucci) the golf player and the horse back rider (Frankie Morello).

Especially Gucci had a lot of shiny sports jackets, not referring to a specific sport.

Sportswear and casual wear really seemed to merge with each other on the catwalk. Of course menswear is always a little bit sporty, but this time sports were all over the place. However, whether a tanktop made  of a net fabric is very suitable for going to the office remains to be seen.

Trends ss2010: tight fitted

At the menswear fashion shows we spotted lots of suits. Complete suits in one color or just combinations of pants and jackets. The remarkable thing about those pants and jackets was that they were all pretty tight fitting. So the muscular bodies of the models were clearly accentuated.

Givenchy, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Lanvin, Moschino and Paul Smith showed some tight  looks. The jackets were often left unbuttoned.

Another trend we saw at the menswear collections were the tucked up sleeves. The boys at the fashion shows of Costume National, Vivienne Westwood, Etro, Raf Simons Lanvin and John Richmond  had it all. We spotted some short sleeves as well at the Neil Barrett and the Cerrutti show.

So  wear your suit a little tighter next season. Loose fitted is so 2009!

Trends ss2010: men in red

When we look at the menswear collections for spring/summer 2010 one thing immediately catches our attention:  together with black, white and beige we see lots of bright colors.

Blue, red and purple dominated the new collections, especially the ones by Bottega Veneta, CP Company, Dirk Bikkembergs, Armani and Ferragamo. At Ungaro the models wore lots of pink.

Since we saw mostly red in the spring/summer collection, let’s focus at that. It came by in dozens of different shades. At Armani, Ferragamo and Gaultier the red tended towards orange. At Lanvin and Emporio Armani a deep red prevailed. One of Paul Smith’s models was totally covered in red, including his shoes.

Many red coats passed by. A few in leather (Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Ferragamo, Iceberg), some trenchcoats (Paul Smith, Trussardi) and several jackets (Gucci, Bikkembergs, Bottega Veneta).

With so many shades of red there will surely be one that matches your skin tone. So no one has an excuse not to follow this red color trend next season.

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