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

Dodger, West and Bond...

Well folks, it's a brand new year and with that comes a brand new fashion season. The F/W 09.10 Menswear collections are upon us and that can only mean one thing, that the S/S 09 Couture collections aren't far behind and after that it's only a few weeks until the F/W 09.10 women's collections. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The men's collections, for me anyway, don't usually hold as much excitement as the women's collections do. It's a combination of factors that lessens my enthusiasm, really. The lack of drama, the feeling that there are only so many things you can do with menswear before it turns into a joke, or worse, womenswear and the fact that for the last, well, too many years, so much of what's been going on in men's fashion hasn't interested me at all for the sheer fact that I just simply cannot relate. The whole waifish, ragamuffin, boy/man hybrid that seems to be the only thing anyone has cared about in menswear has never once resonated with me. I'm not a waif. I don't have a chest like a newborn bird and I don't fit into women's jeans. Never have, never will try. So I've pretty much felt left out of the loop while labels like Dior Homme under Hedi Slimane, Burberry Prorsum and Raf Simons both for his own line and at Jil Sander have created clothes that not only wouldn't look good on me even if I could afford them, but clothes that I don't even think look very good on the models. Of course there are shows that I can at least appreciate for the fact that they aren't trying to create some new breed of man like Versace, Dolce and Gabbana and even at times Prada, but at least as far as most on the Fashion Spot (where I spend a good deal of time during runway season) are concerned, the type of slick, decidedly masculine fashions being shown by the D&G boys and Miss Donatella are not just boring, but tacky and passe.

Burberry

So imagine my surprise today when looking at the Burberry Prorsum collection to find that Christopher Bailey had changed his repetitive course and took a sharp left into unexpected territory. The first dozen or so looks were all in black and looking much more cleaned up and sharp than I'm used to seeing from a Burberry collection. If I had to use one word to describe the overall feeling of the collection it would be mature. This was a collection that seemed aimed at guys who have surpassed the 25 year mark. You could say there was something grown up about the collection. It was like all of the retro-quirky Londoniness of Burberry had been swept away and what you were left with was actual clothes instead of a tedious look. The majority of responses on tFS (that's the Fashion Spot) were negative, and I can completely understand why. The collection wasn't really what anyone would expect from Bailey, which could explain why I like it.

My favorite pieces in the collection were the coats, the best being a black knee-length pea coat style with epaulettes and a great little cuff detail that I can't quite describe. It's the kind of thing that makes my desire kick in. For me, in F/W collections, you just can't beat a perfect coat.

Overall the collection had a vague Dickensian feel to it that made me think of the Artful Dodger or something, the street urchin in gentlemen's clothes. I suppose it was a combination of the dark, cool, ashy sort of colors, the proportions of the very boxy coats paired with straight narrow trousers and the limpid jabot-style ties that appeared on some of the shirts. Luckily though it wasn't themey and the Dickens thing is more likely a coincidence than an attempt by Bailey to tell a story.

But as I mentioned, the unexpected factor could be this collection's biggest weakness. I am decidedly not a fan of Burberry Prorsum, so if suddenly I like it and the people who are normally fans do not, that could be a problem. Even in the best of times it wouldn't be wise to completely alienate the customer base you've built by giving them a look that they love, but especially now when economies all around the world are going to hell it just seems like a strange move. Frankly, this isn't really what people want from Burberry, and there are a slew of other labels out there who do dark, urbane menswear much better. I guess my thinking is that in shaky times, it would be smart to do what you do best.

Jil Sander

The Jil Sander collection was also shown today, and if Bailey's collection can usually be counted on to deliver the same grungey, lanky, rock-y look, then Raf Simons' collections at Sander can be counted on to deliver precise, sharp, clean tailoring with a subtle twist whether that be in the fabrics, the minute details or the silhouette. This season he delivered more of his narrow tailoring cut with surgical precision, but here and there he played with shape. The shoulders and sleeves on coats and jackets had a certain roundness to them with a bit of volume built in which softened the normally rigorous Sander shape. That's all well and good, I don't mind a bit of experimentation now and then, but on many of these pieces he did something inexplicable. He tailored the body in such a way so that the torso came in at the waist, not in the area where a man's waist sits, but instead in the region where a woman's waist sits.

Now, I understand that for whatever reason there is a drive in menswear lately to pursue newness. New shapes, new attitudes and new definitions of masculinity. But when designers do something like this that is so clearly an attempt at nothing more than doing something new for the sake of newness I have to wonder what the point of all this "innovation" is. I don't think we live in a society, no matter how progressive some of the people who inhabit it are, that is going to grasp onto the idea of slowly feminizing men. It's not the same as when women's fashion, and by extension their roles in society were gradually infused with more masculine attributes. That was all done to advance what little power and influence women had. When Yves Saint Laurent cut a masculine looking tuxedo for a woman's body the intention was to empower the woman wearing it, but even still that tuxedo was very clearly cut for the female form. All of the broad shoulders, straight torsos and endless trousers that have appeared in women's fashion over the last century have served a purpose, and it was not to make women look like men. It was to make them equal to men. So I can't help but wonder what the point in making men look like women is. I could see if it was done by a woman, like last year when Miuccia Prada put men in halter tops, fly-less trousers and skirts, how it might be an attempt to put men in their place. But these hourglass coats were designed by a man, for a man, and so I can't even attempt to guess at what his motives were.

Thankfully the rest of the collection, while not heartstopping or lust-inducing, was at the very least good looking. Sharp, clean and no doubt luxurious, it's the kind of classic look that seems to always work no matter what.

But I can't help but feel like, for all of the strides Simons has made with the womenswear at Sander, his menswear is lagging behind. If the best he can do to create excitement is to give men a torso that any Mae West impersonator would envy then I'd say he's either not trying hard enough, or worse, trying too hard.

Dolce and Gabbana

As far as the first day of Milan Mens week goes, the show that hit closest to home for me was Dolce and Gabbana. It was a collection that, even if I didn't always love the result, I can at least fully comprehend and relate to it.

The last few seasons I haven't really paid much attention to Dolce's menswear offerings. It had gotten a bit dull, and more that a little predictable. That's not to say that this collection was some kind of watershed moment or anything, but it was a sort of reminder of what the Dolce and Gabbana man is all about.

Most of the lineup was comprised of looks that were black on black. Many people would probably complain that it was too much black, but that actually suits me just fine. I say there's no such thing as too much black since no matter how you slice it, there is no way to look bad in it. The overall mood of the collection was very urbane, very slick, and very sharp. There was something of a James Bond kind of feel going on in much of the first half of the lineup. As always the boys showed their signature tailoring, perfectly suited to any Fellini star or the kind of hit men and assassins you only see in movies. Particularly gorgeous was a polished black crocodile motorcycle jacket shown with a bulky turtleneck sweater and charcoal trousers with a subtle stripe. It's the kind of look that makes fashion shows a somewhat depressing affair since you realize there is absolutely no way it will ever feature in your wardrobe.

Occasionally they relented from the onslaught of black offering shots of grey. Navy also made an appearance in velvet as the body of a trenchcoat with sleeves in contrasting fabric.

After some more black looks and an inexplicable section of hideous quilted fabric pieces, they sent out the male equivalent of their traditional parade of evening looks. Dinner jackets in black and white graphic patterns were interspersed in a lineup of velvet and silk jackets in various shades of pink, from cotton candy all the way through to magenta. Now, that kind of look takes a certain personality to actually pull it off, but I will say this, if a man is going to wear pink a deep, brazen shade of pink is the way to go. It's far more masculine.

Overall it was a pretty solid collection in my opinion. No it wasn't Earth shattering, innovative or even all that fresh, but on display were plenty of great clothes that men can actually wear without needing to explain the statement they're trying to make. My one complaint, and it is a fairly big one, is this; I couldn't help but feel that at least some of this collection was taking a cue from Tom Ford's eponymous menswear line. Some of the looks (the all black, the finale of brocade and pink velvet dinner jackets, the velvet shoes in different colors) would look quite at home in his Madison Avenue mecca. Frankly, he owns this suave hyper-masculine/fashion obsessed dandy territory and the D&G boys should be thanking their lucky stars that his clothes are kept largely out of the public eye in his swank boutiques where only clients and truly obsessed wannabes (guess which category I fall in) can see them. If they were being shown on a runway during men's week, I doubt if anyone would miss the striking similarities.

all photos from Catwalking.com via OhJane, Nils and Gius at the Fashion Spot

A look back...

So here we are, the end of Milan fashion week. Some might say it's a bit late to start reviewing the S/S 2009 fashion shows. I say I'm right on time for the very best part, Paris.

But before we get to the mecca of it all, a not so brief rundown of Milan thus far....from my p.o.v. of course.

Prada

This was the first time, probably ever but I might be wrong, that I loved a Prada collection the moment that I saw it. Even last season's (admittedly genius) perversely prim lace took me a while to warm up to. I just don't like lace, so seeing a body smothered by an overblown guipure was hard to digest for me. But this time something just clicked. Maybe it was because of what was presented. Maybe it was more to my tastes. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because I saw something below the surface without it needing to be explained.

The dominant look was very Belle de Jour to me. Knee length pencil skirts cut high on the waist were paired with cropped jackets that were held closed by little strips of ribbon....well, that was the plan anyway. None of those tops actually concealed very much. Underneath the jackets, or in most cases out for all to see, were bra tops that looked like they were fastened in a hurry but someone who was fumbling with the hooks. That was the beauty of it, the jackets were in complete disarray, the fabrics were completely rumpled and the bras looked like they could fall off at any moment.

The whole look was balanced on shoes that can only be described as something a primitive pinup might have worn. Strips of colored snake perched on a mega high platformed instep paired with little ruffled booties that looked like they came with a baby's layette. Plenty has been said already about the unfortunate toll the shoes took on the models, so I promise not to add to it. Besides, I think the shoes look fabulous. My inner woman would be daring enough to try them out, sans booties of course.

But let your eye run up the model's swan-like necks and you see perfectly lacquered chignons, flawless tawny makeup and delicate little earrings.

I love the fact that even though their clothes seem to have gone from elegant and simple to rumpled and slutty, their hair and makeup still looks flawless. You have to wonder what they were doing to end up that way...

Jil Sander

Ever since last years gorgeous foray into color, transparency and airiness, Raf Simons of Jil Sander has been something of a favorite. This season is no exception. For Spring 2009 Simons was inspired by the work of Man Ray, the 20's and African tribalism. The image that summed up these inspirations was projected on the wall before the show began.

Man Ray's "Noir et Blanche" ca. 1926
image from manraytrust.com

It was an amazing collection to see. The inspiration made itself known literally in the deep, earthy color palette and silky flapper fringe hanging in swags down the back of a mini dress or draped from shoulder to knee to make up the dress itself, which was worn over a thinly knit catsuit. But nothing veered too far into costume or historicism. Instead the fringe was used to enhance the body, hanging in such a way as to expose the curves underneath and showing every move the models made as they walked.

This being Jil Sander, there was plenty of sharp tailoring on display. The jackets were cut to the hip, boxy as per usual, but the masculinity was tempered by the fabrics, which gave some of the jackets a louche drapeyness. This season, Simon's version of the Jil Sander suit replaced drainpipe trousers with either shorts or tailored miniskirts. It had a very garcon sort of appeal, very much in the spirit of the gender bending avant garde woman that inhabited the smoky cabarets and artistic cirles of Paris in the 20's. Overall the collection exuded a sensuality that Simons has never captured before, and which is completely foreign to the Sander label. There was an eroticism in the waythe fringes parted to expose skin. More than that this was Jil Sander gone glam, summed up best in the incredible earrings that were designed in collaboration with Italian jewelers Damiani. Metal tusks speared through the earlobe with diamonds or pearls attatched to either end. Like the collection itself, they were a great blend of modernity and savagery.

Gucci

The most disastrous show of the week, as far as I'm concerned, was Gucci. It's rare at this point that I ever have anything positive to say about Frida Giannini's collections, and this season is no exception. We all know by now that we're in some hard financial times, and I'd actually be willing to give Frida some leeway if I felt that she was battening down the hatches for what will likely be a fairly safe season due to sheer necessity. But this isn't the first time that she's picked up the crumbs of trends that other designers have devoured and simply tszujed them a little bit. It's not as if you can't find the same tropical printed caftans, safari-esque cargo pieces and colorful chiffon maxi dresses at stores ranging from Zara, Topshop or H&M for the same price as the sales tax on one of the Gucci items, and to be completely honest, they're just as nice.

Besides, chiffon can only be so soft, satin so smooth and colors so rich before you have to wonder exactly what else comes with that $2,000 price tag? At least back when Tom Ford was designing and you spent a month's rent on a pencil skirt, it made your rear end look amazing and you were getting an insatiable, if imaginary, sex life with it....the attitude that skirt might give you was like a fabulous free gift with purchase.

Sadly now the only gift you get is the satisfaction of knowing that you can afford to overpay for your fashion, but is that really luxury? By now I think it's fair to say that Giannini is a one trick pony, and when the trick isn't even that impressive to begin with it's easy to lose patience. I've started wondering, would anyone really care if Gucci just abruptly stopped showing during fashion week? Would it leave a gaping hole in the fashion calendar? I have my doubts because, quite frankly, Gucci just doesn't matter like it used to.

all fashion show images from Style.com