Dazed Overdose Milan Roundup Part 2
Published 24 months ago
Robbie Spencer runs through the Milan menswear shows picking his highlights.
- Text by Robbie Spencer
D&G's decadent A/W09 collection was a refreshing break from the
minimal black uniform attire that seems to be prominent at the menswear
shows in Milan, In Homage to Oscar Wilde, D&G saluted the dandy
style of the late Victorian era, with foppish suiting, and feminine
fabrics cut in masculine shapes, the collection also featured the most
amazing tapestry like, Caravaggio-inspired prints on suits and knitwear.
Trussardi’s
A/W09 collection experimented with gold zips on suiting and coats and
featured tiered jackets and oversized metallic holdalls.
Botega
Veneta’s A/W09 collection was a flawless combination of their
characteristic natural palette and signature focus on luxury and
quality including weaved holdalls, wool suiting in tan, creams and sand
colors.
Gianfranco Ferre A/W09 collection was a minimal modern
affair, having a heavy focus on luxury cuts and new takes on men’s
classics, over coats and suit jackets were slime fit with futuristic
Pierre Cardin inspired winged shoulders.
Vivienne Westwood’s
A/W09 collection saluted Ziggy stardust with via gardener chic with
stretchy rainbow metallic knits, slashed up long johns, floral
pinafores and gardening sheers.
A welcome distraction from the insanely load music played during the
Versace A/W09 show was the hypnotizing footage above our heads of
melting ice caps, used as inspiration for the Versace palette in
their collection. It consisted of cobalt blue knits and white suits, as
well as baby blues and navy emulating the harsh, untamable reality of
nature and the beauty of ice.
Milan’s
highlight, Prada, was pioneering this an attire for survival,
emasculating menswear and wearing clothes as amour. The use of leather,
denim, and studding, were examples of harsh tough materials applied in
beautiful intricate ways on shoes and paneled jeans. At the show there
was a spoken word cyber lift style-voiceover, making you feel like you
were about to go into space. Or embark on a time traveling journey to
the year 2165.
Moncler and Thom Browne, one of the most exciting
collaborations to come out of Milan this season, Thom has collaborated
with Moncler to create a capsule menswear collection for A/W09 that
experiments with new fabrics and provides innovative and signature
takes on the classic Moncler puffa jacket styles.
With the
Specials song "Ghost Town: ringing through your ears and the row of
Victorian street lamps running the course of the Alexander McQueen
A/W09 runway, there was an uncomfortably creepy atmosphere brewing.
Coming straight out off the late Victorian East End crossed over with
the gang land of early twentieth century New York, models were time
warped into burley bruisers and gangsters with boxing gloves and
murderous alter ego, decked out in heavy over coats, trilbies and
walking kanes. This was broken up by work wear leather aprons to
conjure a sense of macabre goings on, resulting in Jack the Ripper
style mass murdering models.
In the Giuliano Fujiwara A/W09
collection, the sunglasses were again a real triumph with the rippled
plastic frames and individual flowers wrapping around each lens. The
shoes; clumpy army style boots were also a highlight, and the tiered
grey pebble dash colored suiting strengthened Fujiwara's futuristic
mission. In a black and grey charcoal palette with bursts of white and
cream, this collection has contributed to the overall trend beginning
to emerge out of the season, reflecting the current social climate a
merger of uniformed futurism.
