Barrett devoted nearly the entire show to brown, seguing through dark chocolate, plum, a bright violet moment and maroon. The hybrid degrade coats and jackets, saw smooth mahogany leather morphed into suede. White lighting bolts cut through sweatshirts, zipped hoodies and bomber jackets, intersecting the torso, radiating from the neck or in a tiny pattern like that on a blazer, swooping the catwalk while Missy Elliott made her second 'appearance' at Men’s Collections with her track “Sock It 2 Me” closing the show.
Felix (FM) backstage at Prada AW14Shot by Lea Colombo
Perverted suiting: a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, dressing up his side-stripe tracksuit bottoms and orthopaedic trainers with a pimp fur coat and a square-ended tie, haphazardly thrown around the neck, all played out to a soundtrack as complex as the collection itself. Concert group L’Usignolo performed pieces taken from Pina Bausch shows and Kurt Weill transcriptions live alongside a heady mix by Frédéric Sanchez, which included The Ballad of Sexual Obsession by Nina Hagen, Ben Frost’s dark and sexy Peter Venkman Pt. 1 Gluteus Maximus remix, and rock metal. You can watch the entire show with the full original soundtrack on Prada.
Donatella ticked off every gay code in modern culture. Handkerchiefs poked out of back pockets (used in the seventies to indicate sexual fetishes), and the show invite was a silk handkerchief. Rhinestone cowboys were embellished with crystal horseshoes, cacti and sheriff’s stars. And there were chaps, and codpieces! Only Donatella can do a studded leather codpiece over leather trousers and make it mega – it was reminiscent of those sparkly Speedos in Behind the Candelabra. Not even macho biker helmets could dampen the vamp as Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk” closed the show.
Grey stark tailoring, worn with small dark sunglasses like nineties Johnny Depp, welcomed a moodier shift: leather trousers, black zip detailing and baker boy caps that were suddenly on the camper side of cute as King Krule’s “Easy Easy” and a remix of The Smiths “How Soon Is Now” soundtracked the show.
Dark rock princes led by KISS kings: Varvatos has been working with the band on his new campaign, and they inspired the AW14 collection. Varvatos told us, “For me, it is the idea of the superhero, a man in disguise with incredible powers, that makes the KISS myth so enduring and appealing, and it's exactly that mindset that I wanted to explore, adding a dash of fantasy to my work while keeping tailored finesse and elegance high on the agenda.” As "Rock & Roll All Nite" by KISS announced the finale, KISS joined Varvatos for his bow. MEGA. Show goers were singing as they walked out.
Travis Smith (right, I Love) backstage at DSquared2 AW14Shot by Paolo Simi
Orange boiler suit bomber jackets, and quilted t-shirts saw ‘Caten’s Penitentiary’ printed across the back. The dark indigo denim had an American rockabilly vibe, while denim jackets closed with leather strap details hinted at something darker, like mental institutions. The music choice was a mixture of literal insanity, featuring the “I Want MY Cigarettes” scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Billy Joel's “My Life”, “Insane In the Brain” by Richard Cheese, Eminem's track “Insane”, “My Way” from Sid Vicious and finally Cypress Hill's classic “Insane In the Brain”.
 backstage at Prada AW14)
 backstage at DSquared2 AW14)
