Jean Paul Gaultier Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

Jean Paul Gaultier kept it simple during his ss2012 presentation, the showroom was the dressing-room was the stage. So the audience, sitting at the tables where normally buyers write their orders, witnessed the models getting dressed and send off to the catwalk. It was a nice setting to underline the commercial purpose of JPG’s collection. Because it’s all about selling, no.

And commercial it was, from the Hawaiian prints to the sailor-sweaters. There were tailored jackets, fluid silk pants and natty shorts, but also the biker jackets and sporty blouson jackets with tailored pants. It was low key, but effective. Nothing new, all salable.

Streetfashion Paris Menswear SS2012 Day 1

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Rick Owens-shoes, your latest Givenchy-shirt or that vintage Comme des Garcons? 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: Paris Menswear Fashion Week.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

The overall theme of Dries van Noten’s ss2012 collection seemed water. Not only because the clothes referred to rain and protection from water (coats, jackets, pants) also because almost everything was waterproof.

What the designer  really had in mind were the clothes men wear for outdoor pursuits like fishing, riding, and hunting.  Following his  elegant, decadent fall-collection, Van Noten chose once more for the dark side: midnight blue and burgundy with shots of brights. That contrast came also back in other ways: structure vs softness, real vs synthetic, tradition vs technology.

The clothes had a shiny surface, thanks to the nylon, silk and wool-polyester which all have a different way of gleaming. It gave the collection a modern yet rich touch.

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

Expectations were high, now Kim Jones has taken over at Louis Vuitton menswear. But until now the shift didn’t bring any news. Where Paul Helbers tried to bring something new, edgy and different into the collection, Jones brought his vision on classics with a twist. But we’ve seen that before. The result was handsome, sure-handed and vivid, but also played safe. A bit seventies and sixties, Ivy League and preppy sportswear and that meant crisp college looks, ranger and safari clothes, massai checks and midnight blue dinner suits. For the hyper luxury clientele Kim Jones offers varsity jackets fronted with waxed alligator, and neckties shot with 24-karat gold thread.

But the bags were the message. And the shoes… well the shoes. Let’s not spend a word on those.

 

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

If I were a monk, I would want to wear the dresses Rick Owens designs for men. For example those long, strict, minimal dresses he presented today in Paris. Again Rick Owens stayed faithful to  his monastic aesthetic. His urban monks were dressed in linen-blend skirts and even sleeveless gowns. Although it seems it’s only for  his  cult followers. What was left for people with a daily job, were the jackets, either cut short in washed cottons, their buttoned cuffs splaying open, or elongated and aerodynamic.

Mugler Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

For his Mugler ss2012-collection Nicola Formichetti was inspired by a lot of stuff:  the storytellers of Italian cinema, Fellini and Pasolini; Japanese comics;  Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber; sport; Greek mythology. So Greek gods, muscled boys, and tattooed punks all appeared on the runway often spattered in glitter.

Despite all the show, the collection does have salable items: stonewashed skinny jeans, pleated shorts, T-shirts, swimwear. There was also a huge role for the color green, in the clothes as in the lightning – which represented the blood of the digital era, according to Formichetti.  This sounds really like Thierry Mugler.

Giorgio Armani Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2012

The Giorgio Armani ss2012 show had a lot of ingredients that popped up in other shows this week which set the mood for next spring. First of all the color blue, then the new suit with wider pants and longer jackets, followed by the short (motor)jacket and the return of sportswear. The only thing we missed were the bold prints and colors – but these don’t belong to the image of Armani. Well, except for the checkboard-print we noticed at some knitwear and shirts.

Streetfashion Milan Menswear SS2012 Day 4

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Jil Sander-suit or that vintage Comme des Garcons? 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: Milan Menswear Fashion Week.

Streetfashion Milan Menswear SS2012 Day 3

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Jil Sander-suit or that vintage Comme des Garcons? 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: Milan Menswear Fashion Week.

 

 

Versace Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2012

It looks like it’s time for a true, classic Versace revival. Not only because of the Versace-inspired show of D&G, also because of the ss2012-collection Donatella Versace sent out yesterday AND the news that she is signed on to be Swedish fashion giant H & M annual guest designer. The collection -launched at nov. 17th in 300 shops around the world – will look back at the Versace-heritage with lots of leather, color, prints and vivacity. For the first time there also will be a small home-collection. Donatella was wearing one of the dresses yesterday when she entered the catwalk after the show.

Maybe that explains the ss2012 collection, full with old fashioned versace-prints, play-boys, and suits that closed low to emphasize the torso. Other elements of those heydays were the baroque-print and lots of buckles.  The swirling curlicues that were a Gianni signature reappeared  in black and white, across jeans and silky blousons, decorating the bath-robes that were once every well-dressed pool’s accessory of choice, and as the tone-on-tone pattern on a sheer mesh shirt. The buckles decorated leather trouser legs, and as closings for jackets.  Colors varied from chrome yellow, grass green, cobalt, hot pink and vermilion.

Here’s the official announcement of the Versace for H&M collection:

 

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