Almost, but not quite...

Gianfranco Ferre

Question; What do Elizabeth I and Rachel from the movie Blade Runner have in common?

Nothing actually, unless you happen to be looking at the Gianfranco Ferre collection for F/W 09.10. Designers Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi channeled the 80s inflected futurism that has been fashion's obsession as of late and blended it with elements of Elizabethan fashion, most notably in the form of ruffs around the neck. The reason for mixing that seemingly random reference into a collection that would otherwise be pretty straightforward? Because they love Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I. The truth is, the mix doesn't look nearly as weird as it sounds because the sharp, aggressive 80s influence ended up being dominant. The first look summed up the mix with gorgeous results; a strong shouldered black belted coat in fabric that had a corded texture, with small metal studs tracing the seams across the shoulder and down the sleeve and topped with a small ruff collar. The coat was worn with over-the-knee suede boots with a platform that, from the front anyway, looks a bit like a chopine. It made a dramatic first impression, and the inspirations were blended well enough that it just looked like an architectural coat with a frilly collar. This being the house of Ferre, founded by the so called "architect of fashion" and lover of all things dramatic, the things that followed were equally bold. One of the main looks were skirt suits in mixes of stiff silks, wools, textured fabrics and velvet that had pagoda shoulders, built out, almost blocklike hips, ruffs at the neck, giant folds of fabric anchored by a belt and either pencil or deflated pouf skirts. A strapless bustier dress in purple so deep it could almost be black paired a matte bodice with a velvet bubble skirt made of horizontal bands. Another dress was made out of a blend of fabrics that created a sort of moire effect, almost like the rippling patterns you see in certain kinds of rocks when they're cracked open. A black coat in heavily corded fabric with velvet bands on the outer sleeve was cut as a rectangle with a belt anchoring the front to the body from inside. Overall the sihouette they were playing with, especially those skirt suits, made me think of Sean Young in Blade Runner right away. I don't actually know if the designers were looking at the film or not, but a lot of what they showed could very well have been worn in it. Now I can see why people might not go for that sort of thing, but personally I love Blade Runner. And if I have to see 80s inspired fashion, that's the part of the 80s I'm interested in seeing.

The color palette was almost exclusively in dark shades; different blacks, charcoal, deep plum, muted gray-brown and petrol. The only bits of contrast were a few looks in lighter shades of gray and a few white blouses. As with their men's collection in January, the lack of color suits me just fine here as well. I love black, as well as really dark colors like plum, and on top of the fact that I like them, I think that when it comes to architectural fashion dark colors just work really well. On the one hand, black makes a really sharply cut garment seem even sharper. On the other, when it comes to more experimental shapes and proportions, doing it in black makes it seem more believable as actual clothing. Plus, Aquilano and Rimondi were smart to play with texture in this collection, another thing they carried over from their men's collection, which helps add dimension to an all black look. They sent out some really interesting fur pieces, like a coat that combined a few different fur textures that gave the coat a sort of barbaric feel (a trend that first surfaced in NY). After that came a gray blouse with a banded collar and what looks like reversed seams paired with an embroidered pencil skirt. Unfortunately though the move into eveningwear was kind of where the collection got a bit heavy. Gray skirts featured scrolling hems that looked incredibly bulky. A pagoda shoulder jacket in petrol velvet with a ruff was paired with a deflated pouf skirt in a slightly lighter shade of silk. On it's own the jacket is quite beautiful, worn with the skirt however it just looked kind of dated. A simple velvet bodice was paired with a huge, asymmetric pouf skirt that looked quite messy and unbalanced, and a gray dress covered in tiered pleats was shapeless and, again, kind of messy looking. The simple, fitted columns that closed the show were much more successful evening options, and were actually some of the most wearable pieces in the collection.

Overall it wasn't a great collection, there were definitely some slips in places, but I think that so far the designers are showing promise at Ferre. They definitely understand the legacy left by Ferre himself and are mindful to incorporate it into their work, but they are definitely doing it their way. It's unfortunate that with this collection comes the news that IT Holding, the company that owns Ferre, filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. Here's to hoping that things work out and that Aquilano and Rimondi are here for a while.

Jil Sander

Raf Simons has slowly won me over at Jil Sander. His first few collections at the house were very respectful and pretty restrained in terms of ideas. As a result, they didn't really interest me very much. But then something happened with the S/S 08 collection. Simons began to open up and play a little bit, introducing things that were foreign to the Jil Sander label. Last season he delivered his best collection since starting at the house in 2006. It was sensual, it was erotic, it was playful and it was just really beautiful to look at. His inspiration for that collection came from the work of Man Ray, the 1920s and Africa. This season he found inspiration in art yet again, in the work of Pol Chambost, an artist who created curving, boldly colored ceramic pieces in the 50s (not that I actually knew who he was before Googling him, but hey, you learn something new everyday, right?) Chambost's work seems to be categorized by the curving, wavelike lines (some of it reminiscent of flowers and plants) and contrasts of bright colors with black and white. Once you see some of the pieces, Simons collection makes absolute sense. His interpretation was actually pretty literal, which is kind of unexpected. My take on Simons was always of someone who used his inspiration in very vague sorts of ways, as was the case with his S/S 09 collection.

Anyway, the collection started out simply, boring even, with some of the precise, classic, understated looks that Jil Sander herself was so well known for and which Simons worked with when he first took over. Sensible overcoats, jackets, trousers and shift dresses came in black, gray, light camel, ivory and navy, paired with pointed toe flats in colors like yellow and deep orange. The clothes are undoubtably luxe, in fabrics like double faced cashmere and the plushest of wools, but besides the fact that they're the kinds of staple pieces that most women work into their wardrobe, there really wasn't anything remotely interesting about them, and I'm guessing that that was the point. Simons is definitely able to take minimalism somewhere beyond perfectly tailored cashmere, so this homage to the Jil Sander heyday was entirely deliberate. Maybe it was meant to serve as a foil for what was to come in the second half of the show, or maybe it was just proof that this recession is real and that many people within the industry feel that sensible, investment clothing is what's going to sell these days. Who knows? But there really isn't much to be said about these looks. Then around look 17 things changed, colored light was projected onto the walls and, apparently, a strobe fickered to signal the change. From the front look 17 didn't look so different from the looks before it. It was a simple, clean, white sleeveless sheath dress worn with black platform pumps. From the back however it was far more interesting. A panel of the white fabric fell away from the body to reveal a panel of black underneath. After that there was a white coat with a slight hourglass shape to it traced in softly curving seams. The front opening, which mimicked the curving seams, led up into a collar that formed a sort of curl right next to the face and opened to reveal a red lining. Another white coat was cut in a sort of oval shap with rounded shoulders that led into tapered sleeves. It featured similarly curving seams and inside of the built-up bateau neckline was a shot of bright orange lining.

From there Simons continued adding shots of color. A high waisted black pencil skirt had a comet of yellow curling around the waist and was paired with a simple black turtleneck. A bright orange one-shouldered sheath had a curl built out at the hip. Heavy knits were molded into rounded shapes that stopped just under the chin and fell off the shoulder, and a navy pants suit had a folded collar that was lined in yellow. From the back you could see that the collar formed a narrow v shape down the shoulder. It reminded me a bit of Georgia O'Keefe's famous flowers and the way they unfolded to reveal the petals. Cathy Horyn at the New York Times observed that besides looking a bit like flora, some of the folds and curls had an anatomical look to them. No need for me to point out what part of the anatomy she was referring to, since it's actually kind of obvious in that yellow collar. A simple gray coat with a wide, floppy funnel neck was also lined in bright yellow that showed off the collar bone and neckline beautifully. After sending out a fairly simple electric purple shift with a curl near the neck though, Simons stuck entirely to black for the remainder of the collection. It was actually disappointing that he didn't go further with the dramatic streaks of color. The dresses that closed the show were beautiful, and proved that architectural fashion can in fact be wearable and even flattering in some cases, but after the jolt of excitement caused by the colors and shapes, it was a let down. I really don't think he took it to it's conclusion, which just makes the handful of really amazing pieces seem like a tease rather than a sample of what's to come.

All in all, the collection built me up just to let me down in the end. For me the major difference between this and the spring collection is that with that collection, Simons really seemed to have gone for it and pushed his ideas as far as they could go before they wound up becoming something that was no longer Jil Sander. I don't think he managed that here, which is why I think S/S will ultimately be remembered as a better collection.

All images from Style.com

The re-creation of man...

The men's collections continued today with what I'm willing to predict will be my two favorite collections, and both for very similar reasons.

Gianfranco Ferre

I'll admit, I never paid much attention to Gianfranco Ferre when Ferre was still alive and designing it. Occasionally I would sneak a glance at the womenswear because for sheer guts and drama there are very few who could top him, but I rarely, if ever, took notice of his menswear. Earlier this year his most recent successors Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, who first became know with their signature line 6267, made their debut for Ferre womenswear and while I didn't love it (blah color palette and a little too controlled) it was certainly a decent debut. Yesterday they presented their men's collection for F/W 09.10 and I have to say, I kind of loved it.

There were a lot of elements in the collection that hit home for me; the dark monochrome color palette with shots of winter white, plays on shiny and matte textures, and razor sharp silhouettes. The entire lineup of strong shouldered coats (some with a slight peak, others with high funneled necks), 60's inflected narrow trousers and chunky oversized knitwear was nearly perfect from start to finish and managed to make a really powerful statement; protection, assertion and confidence.

The oversized funnel necks and gargantuan knitted sweaters and scarves were certainly in keeping with Ferre's love of all things oversized and dramatic, but here they were actually made somewhat believable as clothes that men can actually wear. A great variation on it was a black leather jacket with horizontal band detailing around the body and sleeves. It was different, and it was definitely a "fashion" sort of look, but I could definitely see it working on the street. The coats were a highlight, as they have been in all the shows so far. They were clean, cut mostly to right above the knee and had a certain militaristic vibe about them. It wasn't anything too specific like epaulettes or brass buttons, but the rigor and elegance of them did hint at something kind of regimental. In a way though that's to be expected. A few years ago, say around 05, was the first time I can think of where designers began showing military influenced outerwear for both men and women. At the time I loved it, but it was hard to find outside of a collection price point. Four years later and it's pretty much asserted itself as a classic in men's fashion, not that it hasn't always been apart of the male fashion vocab, but it seems like it's really at the forefront these last few years. To this day it's still a look I love for the elegance and strength it exudes, and when you think about it, so much of menswear is based on an idea of uniform anyway, so it's something that makes perfect sense. But I digress.

The other major thing going on besides the extreme, contemporary tailoring was the mix of both matte and shiny surfaces. I think that's really the key to successfully using such a restrained color palette. Unlike many people I truly don't mind seeing an abundance of black. Besides the fact that it's something that I myself wear a lot of, I think it also makes a great impact on a runway...when handled correctly. The key to it is breaking up the surfaces with subtle variations of texture, sheen and even tone. I think that's why I've never been much of a fan of Yohji Yamamoto's runway presentations. So often he sticks to all matte, all black surfaces and eventually you start to lose the details. But here, Aquilano and Rimondi blended the dullness of wool felt with chunky knits, techno blends with a subtle sheen, Astrakahn and even some mega-shiny blazers, like the one shown as the final look which almost looks beaded...I can't really tell. Plus I think they were smart to throw in that winter white (such an underrated color, I think). It was like a palate cleanser that came along every now and then, and after it the darkness would begin again.

Overall it was a really great effort, and a really strong collection. It was true to the legacy of the label, but at the same time it displayed a really fresh perspective. I guess it's safe to say that Aquilano and Rimondi might just be the team to make the Ferre name relevant again.

Prada

Let me just preface this by saying that I don't know what Miuccia Prada is doing differently in either her life or her work, but whatever it is I hope it continues. Just like during the spring shows where for the first time I fell in love immediately with Prada's women's collection, the same has happened to me with her men's collection for fall. I don't know what to think. I've never been much of a fan of Prada's menswear, at least not the shows. It's not even like with the women's offerings where a lot of the time they might grow on me. The men's shows never really do, with the one exception being her twisted take on emasculating men from F/W 08. So I wasn't really expecting to think much of the collection this season.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Not only was it completely free of gimmicks and whatever the sartorial equivalent of castration is, but from beginning to end it was almost entirely wearable and believable as clothing. Essentially the message Prada was trying to deliver was strength, or to quote the woman herself "survival". It's a pretty simple concept, and is certainly something that resonates on a larger, more significant global scale. But don't think super-aggressive outlaws going Beyond Thunderdome or anything like that, Miuccia really isn't one for themes. That's not to say there wasn't a strong seam of aggression running through the collection though...

She started out slowly, traditionally even, the first look being comprised of a double breasted overcoat and matching power suit in charcoal grey, an almost perfect example of the male corporate uniform. The only things that kept the look from being ready for Wall Street was the lack of anything underneath the suit jacket and the fact that the model looked more like a scared little boy than a power broker. From there she began to play, first removing the overcoat so that only the suit was left, then removing the jacket and replacing it with a classic v-neck top gone tough by being made out of leather, and then splicing leather into the cut of trousers. It was interesting the way the show progressed, like she was starting with this symbol of authority and rank and breaking it apart while adding something grittier into the mix. The fact that the first 8 or 9 looks played out entirely in black, or grey that was so dark it was nearly black, gave this sort of black hole feeling, almost like she was trying to say that with all of the turmoil going on today, the uniform of the corporate male is completely empty, it's meaningless (scary how this collection is bringing out so much pretentiously deep thought on my part, but I'm on a roll, so just go along with it).

Having rendered the traditional suit completely meaningless, Prada began to rebuild her man, creating a literal suit of armor. First it was a crisp white shirt, the front completely studded with metal paired with grey wool trousers with grommets running the length of the leg. Then a full suit in that same grey wool worn with a shirt that had studs tracing the collar and button placket. Then a shirt completely covered in hardware worn under a coat with classic black trousers. All the while the leather brogues that started out pretty staid looking also started showing up with hardware tracing the toes and seams.

From here she continued to toughen up the clothes until every inch of the garments were covered in metal. After that there was only one logical way to end the show, and that was to end where it began, with a double-breasted overcoat and matching suit on the same bare chested scared little boy, only this time the suit was pure black instead of charcoal. It's strange how the whole thing literally came full circle, and I'm not even going to try to explain what it all means lest I run the risk of sounding more ridiculous than usual.

Needless to say I loved the collection. There's a good 3/4 of it that I not only like, but that I could totally see myself wearing. The studs are a lot, and I don't know how willing I would be to completely deck myself out in them, but if she does a variation on the trousers with, say, a thick stripe of them down the side I may have to put myself into debt....or just buy the shoes.

Want. Now.

All photos from Men.Style.com