Men fashion weeks in Paris, London, Milan, Florence are over and we are now full of inspiration for September 2020. Men’s fashion is about to take center stage (sorry girls!). Exploring the tension between whimsical and subtle strength: these pieces are made to be stared at!
Tailoring has been the key player of the Men Fashion Week this year. Sleek cut, precise seams, impeccable style. Suiting is back! And Virgil Abloh has even gone so far by saying that streetwear is going to die. Kim Jones created tailored couture for Dior Men, Claire Waight Keller opted for slim suits for Givenchy and Pierpaolo Piccioli imagined a moonlight blue sequin DB, much in contrast with his previous work for Valentino. A slimmer silhouette is making a comeback. Prada, Raf Simons, Givenchy are rejecting anything oversized.
When it comes to tailoring, we can’t forget Pitti Uomo in Florence. Brunello Cucinelli, Canali and Brioni carry the flag of Italian tailoring excellence high. This year Junya Watanabe’s homage to Italian classicismo joined them too.
Tailoring might be back but with a twist. It dips its toes into gold and comes out bedazzled. Dior’s collection by Kim Jones features a mix of soft colors, greys and pastels. Glitz is hidden in seam lines and very distinct high gloves tie the collection together. A black coat beaded in crystals and sequins to resemble feathers ends the show on a high note. It took more than 1000 hours of handwork to create it and make such craftsmanship seem so effortlessly wearable. Alexander McQueen has an equally mesmerizing golden coat and more glitzy options have been presented by Etro, Balmain and Bode.
What’s underneath the jacket, you say? Louis Vuitton proposes patchwork shirts, using different fabrics to achieve unique looks. Mixing fabrics and patterns seems to be a trend that you can see slightly transformed in the double color bomber imagined by Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior. A sense of deconstructivism permeates various collections: look at Sacai’s trenches and Junya Watanabe’s work. Approaching fabrics differently, creating an aesthetic out of patchwork could be an interesting new trend.
In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of 80’s and 90’s nostalgia but this year it’is all about 70’s glamour, in rust tones and undone silk shirts, which strutted at Dries Van Noten and Tom Ford.
This 70’s sultriness carries on in Balmain’s beautifully choreographed show which seems to bring sand dunes to life. Sand colors but also a few pops of primary color and a dip into prints and checks in black and white. Draped silhouette alternated with precise tailoring, a hint of oversized shoulders and a bit of 70’s aftertaste and flared trousers.
Flared pants were also featured in surely one of the more introspective collections Alessandro Michele designed for Gucci. A Foucault pendulum swings at the center, while the reminiscent of a childhood wardrobe is distorted and take on a dark aura down the runway. A reflection on masculinity and lost childhood. While the show is predominantly 50’s there are some 70’s vibes in the mix.
Big trend of Men Fashion Week are garments. Emporio Armani and Dolce&Gabbana have expressed their support for artisanal work and environmental issues. A new take on the sustainability problem the fashion industry is facing. Gucci has chosen more shock value messages such as writing “fake” on a handbag. And Pierpaolo Piccioli is inspired by social media slang in his collection for Valentino.
Not only lettering but print has escaped the confines of the t-shirt and spilled over the entire outfit as well. The Louis Vuitton men by Virgil Abloh stepped out of a surrealist painting in cloud printed suits with a metal mask. Also interesting is the askew and slightly off-centre approach to their bags.
The overall trend seems to scream chic and bold. Tailoring, jewels, prints, lettering. Plus oversized coats, down jackets and a touch of fur.
Raf Simons and of course Silvia Venturini Fendi bring furs back to the runway. Long coats, elegant stoles and space-age oriented the first, adjusting to two different temperatures the second. Fur is back in different styles, from Dior to Berluti and Dries Van Noten.
Shearling coats invaded Milan Men fashion week. At Prada they were vinyl coated, both Giorgio and Emporio Armani presented us long-line and moody shearlings. Dolce&Gabbana and Tod’s presented “inside out” shearlings.
On the more practical side, we saw down jackets at Dries Van Noten and Craig Green. At JordanLuca, hooded puffer jackets were coated with acid house prints while at Korean brand Münn overstitched denim parkas came teamed with utility-focused padded scarves.
If in Milan men stay warm with shearling, in London it’s all about key parkas and many-pocketed windcheaters, as we saw at Woolrich, A-Cold-Wall* and Giorgio Armani. Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Givenchy presented cycling jackets and overcoats made out of technical fabrics.
To sum it all up, which trends walk down the catwalk at the Men Fashion Weeks? Tailored clothes, with gold and glitz for the more daring. Those more adventurous could opt for a bold print and a deconstructed look. The silhouette is slim and a bit sexy. Trousers may flare at the bottom. But let’s not forget subtle elegance and a little Florence dandyism. Lots of options to keep you warm but elegant, fur, masculine shearling and down jackets.
Written by GISELLA LOMBARDI
