Climate Change- A Reality Check

MILAN — With fresh color and a firm silhouette in soft fabrics, the menswear 2010 season has opened in Milan with a clear vision: put creativity and craftsmanship into clothes that are for real.






Chris Moore/Karl Prouse

Models wore pieces from Giorgio Armani's spring/summer 2010 collection in Milan.








The climate change is evident — but not essentially depressing. As the designer Tomas Maier said about his powerful show melding formal and casual on Sunday: “This is not a time to dumb down — it is a time to give men things that have good design and are better made — and you have to excite them.”


Enticing customers into stores is possible, as the Montenapoleone fashion avenue in Milan proves. But the numbers of customers are down everywhere, and designers are talking about keeping a firm grip on prices.


The trends so far are for less formal wear, but for what there is to be sharp (especially at the shoulders), sleek and in inventive fabrics.


Travel is a strong story line, whether it is back to the 1980s, the 1970s and its hippie tie-dye looks revisited, or just practical weekend wear with accompanying sportswear shoes and roomy bags.


Patterns, from graphic checks and stripes to leafy prints with a hint of “green,” are also evident. But the word printed most clearly on these clothes is: “reality.”


GUCCI The Gucci rock star came out from underground and took up manly pursuits in sport or on the street. Frida Giannini’s collection was all the better for widening her reach, which did include after-hours glamour — but in a sleek jacquard jacket inspired by kelim rug patterns.


“It’s optimistic,” the designer said, referring to Brazil as the motivation of the collection. Not so much the sexy beach boys (even if they were on the runway in black Neoprene vests and swim briefs) but the stark architecture of Oscar Niemeyer against a blue sky. The graphic lines and patterns livened up a palette that started with pure white tailoring that was very Gucci.


Ms. Giannini started at the house as a handbag designer and brought some of that attention to detail and to materials to the clothes.


Backstage, she showed that a matte black crocodile bag was a reptilian surface treated with rubber; and that leather jackets had inserts of nylon mesh, melding traditional craftsmanship with high tech in an intriguing way.


The collages of futuristic fabrics made this collection seem more dynamic than recent Gucci offerings. Yet was the finale of familiar shiny surface suits really necessary to lure the Gucci male back into the silken underground?


GIORGIO ARMANI “Elegant — but different for 2010,” Giorgio Armani said backstage, referring to the opening outfits that used the tailoring of his 1980s heyday but gave it a jolt of bold check pattern.


It was a smart move by the maestro of the soft suit, who said he was fighting a liver problem. He went back to his basics to prove that design with deep roots grows into a modern classic.


So everywhere there was a dose of Armani — in the Jazz Age geometric sweater patterns from the designer’s favorite 1930s; in the suits, built from the shoulder but with a more sensual curve at the waist; and in the casual look of a sweater set with elongated cardigan.


While Mr. Armani has, in the past, chased after a hip trend, here the collection was focused on wardrobe solutions — and not just for the suits. They were often shown as the accompaniment to happy couples, as though you got the girl on your arm by buying the right clothes.


But the sportswear was equally clear and streamlined, from leather jackets to python sneakers, showing that the Armani look is never more relevant than when it is at its purist.


Bottega Veneta “I feel optimistic,” said Tomas Maier, whose colorful collection, in contrast to the designer’s more familiar stone and putty tones, was a departure — and a good one.


The meld of city slick with wide 1980s shoulders to the fore and gentler sportswear, patterned with foliage, came together at the show’s center. There were juicy mixes of color, mostly red tones — melds of purple, red and orange that were used dramatically when tie-dye patterns bled over striped summer jackets.


A hint of craftsmanship from the hippie era is stirring this Milan season. But the Bottega Veneta travel trail always leads to exquisite workmanship, whether it is the sturdy shoes or the big, soft bags. Above all, Mr. Maier hit a fine balance between formal and casual — or, “considered and carelessness,” as he himself expressed it. There was nothing wanton about the mixes of tailoring and dress-down ease. Every piece of this exceptional collection seemed judiciously thought through — not least the final outfit of navy tuxedo with ink blue jeans.





Jil Sander The curve of a face in vaporous lines undulating across a shirt was an inspiration from the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita. But the message of the Jil Sander collection was simple, according to its designer.


“It is a message of love — very pure, very simple,” said Raf Simons backstage of his ode to the artist, which set off the rounded softness of the illustrations against the clean, geometric lines of an elongated tunic top or a streamlined polo shirt.


For all the icy whiteness and glacier blue colors, there was a new warmth to this Jil Sander collection because Mr. Simons was working with a compass as well as a square. That was summed up with the models’ hair, as a straight fringe playing off a round head. And also in the details that gave each garment a design element: the rounded edge to a square white top worn over slim pants; the bubbling pique surface of a straight coat; or sandal straps curving across the foot.


There is still a chilly geometry to the Simons aesthetic, but his confident streamlining for Jil Sander was as powerful in this sporty collection as in the designer’s signature tailoring.


Dolce & Gabbana With Madonna’s newest partner Jesus Luz walking the Dolce & Gabbana runway in a glitter jacket, the message seemed so 1980s that it hurt. Can fashion really give enough of an ironic twist to the era of glitz and glam to make it seem relevant to these straightened times?


“Everything is about beauty and elegance, but he’s a man of the South — and the line running through the collection is embroidery,” said Stefano Gabbana. He was referring to the dense carpet of patterns on jackets or patterns that created a rich sparkle.


From the moment the show kicked off with Supertramp yelling “Take a look at my girlfriend,” the resonance was to the glory days of Milan fashion in the 1980s and especially to the glitter fest of Gianni Versace at his most flamboyant.


The brooding Sicilian glamour grown from Domenico Dolce’s Sicilian roots was translated as a sequined surface on a tank top or as sparkling embroidery on a jet black bath robe. Even scarves glimmered with sequins.


It was surely meant to be over-the-top, and maybe the brand’s aficionados will get the joke, even if it comes at a high price. The gutsy collection was certainly anti-recession and depression. And among the rich pieces were the design duo’s raunchy classics, especially jeans distressed to shreds and swim pants on a glamorous young guy who was, of course, Jesus.


Missoni Angela Missoni came up with a neat quote from the writer Bruce Chatwin to sum up the nomadic poetry of her menswear collection: “Travel does not merely broaden the mind. It makes the mind.”


It certainly made this show one of the most evocative Missoni collections since the current designer has taken the helm. Each outfit seemed to have a history, shown in the faded colors and worn fabrics, often with three dimensional surfaces of knitted patchworks or woven textures.


You could envisage a nomad wandering the world, absorbing blue from the sky and sand from the shore, until a denim coat was streaked and faded. The big shapes of trench coats or of Missoni’s signature knits were all given a third dimension with the textured surfaces, making for easy pieces but made with the depth of understanding about the house heritage.


The show was framed by an old theater, whose wooden surfaces added to the sense that texture, as much as color, is the modern Missoni way to go.


ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA Who would have expected the polished Zegna man to turn into a nomad — even if travel (for business rather than pleasure) must be part of his world? But it was smart of the Italian menswear behemoth to show its more casual side — especially as its sporty, young ZZegna collection has been brought back from the New York shows to debut in Milan on Tuesday.


Dressed down with a squishy hat or a soft beret, the Zegna models also were wearing easy clothes, with suits tailored in silk, linen and wool and a safari jacket or suede blouson showing the discreet side of luxury. To its more familiar, natural palette, Zegna had added grapevine colors from mauve through purple and wine, giving richness in a subtle way to this laid-back collection. suzy menkes


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