A little bit of a delay with Milan menswear updates...put it down to too many shows and not enough time to blog on...cue desperate calls from The Established Man office in London wondering where the next installment will be. Pah...do they not know the stress 'Our Man in Milan' goes through?!
It's not long until we swiftly head North to Paris so here's a few snippets from the Milan shows that caught our eye. Obviously a trip to Milan for some fabulous menswear is not complete without a trip to Mrs. Prada's show and this time in the large vaulted hall that she likes to call home for fashion shows it was as if we'd walked into some bizarre class or exam. With facts and figures scrolled across the floor along with some downright weird stuff..the yellow bar, the airline style check in desks and green 'thing' par example...and then a soundtrack bustling with Northern English Indie tracks all mashed up. We wondered what the hell was about to appear from backstage.
As to be expected these supposed hints offered no clue whatsoever and the collection, dare we say it, had a nod to Prada collections from a while back. All the classics a gentleman could ever want were given the Mrs. P touch. So cue camel, beige and black top coats and sports jackets with thick, double-collars in alternating textures...knit and sheepskin being one such look. There were plenty of suits and jackets in navies and greys, teamed with light blue shirts and knits...be they chunky or fine...in camels and pinks. We're not sure how wearable the knitwear will be bearing in mind it skirted a good inch or two above the waist; we're not aware of too many men willing to flash the layer underneath or even bare flesh..god forbid! But it plays with ideas of shape and perspective.
Away from all this classic Prada there were, thankfully, some more conceptual, with a twist items that had us cooing from our position atop one of the platforms. So there were more overcoats, both long and short but this time in a crazy psychedelic camouflage, much like that of the skin used on concept cars to disguise their true form from prying lenses. Then there were the shiny, latex-like coats with their white sheepskin collars, yet another juxtaposition of texture but also the natural and artificial.
What might have started off as being slightly preppy and mundane presentation soon became a more interesting and appropriately Prada affair. The show ended with the words 'To be continued' projected on the screen and we don't doubt that there are plenty more ideas swirling around Mrs. P's head to keep this going a long time yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment