2016年06月29日
Milan and Paris catwalks
They may have plunged themselves and the world’s financial markets into crisis with Thursday’s Brexit vote, but everybody still loves the English — or their style at least.
From Dior Homme’s black-clad boot boys to Louis Vuitton’s rakish colonial artistos, British influences were ever present, liberally dolloped with pure London punk.
String vests and braces have never looked so elegant as they did on the Dior runway, with designer Kris Van Assche cutting the skinhead aggression with the melancholic gothic whimsy of the Cure. Dsquared2’s Dean and Dan Caten offered up bovver boys — albeit those whose bleached jeans and braces were finished off with glam rock glitter platform boots — very Bowie for added Brit.
Deconstructed cricket jumpers graced the Japanese label Facetasm’s show and Walter Van Beirendonck embraced almost every sartorial icon of an eternal England from boating blazers to brogues and even Morris men folk dancers. Fellow Flemish master Dries Van Noten paid homage to the 19th-century English arts and crafts movement in his show, referencing patterns from William Morris’s home in Kelmscott Manor.
At a time of such anglophilia, the Brexit vote came as a shock. Chanel’s guru Karl Lagerfeld blamed country yokels for voting Leave, while Agnes b. got up a last-minute celebrity petition begging Britons to stay in Europe. “We are very sad,” the French designer said on Sunday. “Hopefully there will be another vote.”
Oddly the happiest man in Paris was the English designer Paul Smith, a fervent pro- European. But you couldn’t but be cheerful seeing his joyful reggae-toned new spring-summer collection. “Life goes on,” he said. You have to be “positive and happy in this weird world”.
Great British style (part 2): And Scotland too ...
The longer fashion week went on the more it resembled a gathering of the clans, reaching an apex when Smith unveiled the latest style to have come out of the British cultural melting pot — “rasta tartan”.
British for now, that is.
“It’s Scotland gone mad,” he said as his models broke out in big smiles wearing the rainbow-Rastafarian plaid in beautifully tailored beachy, Caribbean casual wear and zoot suits.
Louis Vuitton, Dior, Off-White and Japanese labels Kolor and Facetasm also made eye-catching use of plaid while the hipsters of OAMC gave it a grungy Irvine Welsh urban edge.
Suits you, sir!
Style critics often complain that men’s fashion is boring. Always the same. Jackets, jumpers, cardigans and, most dull of all, the suit.
No longer. Designers took massive liberties with the suit this week, none more so than the Vetements tyro Demna Gvasalia, who also now holds the scissors at Balenciaga.
The young Georgian dramatically remade the classic suit, pulling it tighter to the body while throwing out huge padded shoulders.
While many others have copied his oversized trope, none have yet done it so well. Elsewhere, arms were ripped off suits and raincoats, lapels inverted and pockets and tailoring all revealed. But all felt like deconstruction compared with Gvasalia’s radical flair.
American designer Thom Browne continues to distort the traditional suit, and while most of his show was a play on surf culture themes, a more subdued grey suit made its way into the collection, with low-crotch rolled-up trousers and high-buttoning jacket — albeit with Jaws-esque dorsal fin for added drama.
Socks with everything
Worn high, low and — whisper it — even with sandals, socks are slowly being rehabilitated from style Siberia.
While footballers at Euro 2016 in France are wearing theirs above the knee, Facetasm, White Mountaineering and the American label Off-White dared to put sports socks on the catwalk.
Kenzo came furthest out of the closet, repeatedly teaming socks with sandals — and matching black socks and white sandals for further shock value. Some hosiery went nearly to the knees and French label Pigalle thoroughly trashed the taboo by adding bath sandals.
In one final act of pure provocation, Paul Smith sent out the invitations to his show on pairs of socks. He followed this by smuggling striped socks and sandals onto the catwalk. “Weren’t they great?” he asked.
Blurred agenda
Androgyny remained a theme as designers presented looks meant to be worn by men and women — some more easily than others. Vivienne Westwood’s collection contained equal parts looks for men and women, while Miuccia Prada continued her tradition of mixing in women’s looks with the menswear.
Gucci’s new creative director Alessandro Michele has made gender blurring a constant in his collections — he is one of many who from the next women’s season will combine both men’s and women’s collections on the catwalk. This season was no exception, with floral print suits, long pleated skirts and jaunty plaid hats on offer for men. Or women. There are no rules here.
The great outdoors
The fresh air could be breathed in everywhere with many designers taking their cue from wholesome activities like camping, hiking and climbing. Next summer’s fashionable man feels the need to take refuge in nature, using silence and meditation to offset the stress of modern life. Cases in point: Moncler’s sleeping bags and multi-pocketed clothes, Salvatore Ferragamo’s Sahara gilets, Breton fisherman yellow waxed rainwear at Gucci and walking sandals and socks at Versace.
Dries Van Noten showed patchwork camouflage parkas, hoodies and shirting with pockets aplenty. Valentino, too, showed camouflage outerwear and backpacks ready for an outdoors jaunt.
Miuccia Prada took the theme and ran with it. Her man dresses for comfort on his long global trek, but packs for a night out.
The focal point of the collection was active wear: drawstring active trousers or athletic leggings with contrast stitching for him, or walking skirts with corresponding drawstring hems for her. Colourfully strapped sandals ensure sure-footedness, while big backpacks adorned with drinking flasks and dress shoes give the air of adventure and self-sufficiency.
The must-have garment for next season: technical raincoats with satellite images of Earth, pretty florals or a whimsical traveller’s print.
The designer said backstage that while recent collections were looks back in time, this one is set firmly in the now — with all its question marks.
“The past is over. I want to take care of the present,” she said. “The goal is to share with other people, other cultures, other mentalities.”
She has given her man, and woman, the option to carry everything on their backs in big utilitarian backpacks, because you never know. But she’s an optimist: pointy men’s dress shoes hang from the backpacks and women’s heels in celebratory cotton candy pink dangle from a handbag.
“In case you want to have an evening out. That was fun,” Prada said.Read more at:formal dresses online | short formal dresses
