It’s Simple. Really.
Italian designers seem to have made a New Year’s resolution: Cut out the show business and return to the serious business of tailored menswear.
The five-day, fall-winter 2000-2001 preview presentations, which ended with Giorgio Armani on Wednesday, concentrated on a classic style devoid of gimmicks. Gone are the kilts and high-heeled shoes, the spangled rock star jackets and transparent T-shirts of recent seasons.
“The less you add, the more you get,” Armani said after presenting his pared-down collection in the theater of his downtown Milan headquarters. Armani’s invention of the no-lining jacket some 20 years ago marked the beginning of the Italian success story in contemporary classic menswear.
The suit, complete with jacket and tie, makes a major comeback in this round of “moda Milanese” for men. Often, the three pieces are in different tones of the same color. Black and gray still hog the runway, with varieties of brown and blue tagging along close behind.
There is also a return to nature in these collections: lots of heavy wool knits, furry outerwear and ethnic inspiration from multicolored scarves to Peruvian wool hats.
“It’s time to go back to our origins,” said designer Kean Etro, speaking on a video. On the screen, he and his models frolic in a thick forest dressed in brightly colored outfits from woolly caps to checkered running shoes.
Armani was in his element in the mood of rediscovered simplicity. His new sleek line does away with fussy buttonholes on tight-fitting jackets and overcoats. Replacing them are hidden clasps, zips or snaps. Jacket lapels are small; trousers are tapered.
Armani loves the “down to basics” of black, which he uses for ties, silk shirts or T-shirts to go under his streamlined outfits. This round, he combined his Emporio and Jeans line with the signature label, creating a 24-hour wardrobe in which sweatshirts made of organic cotton, heavy knit pullovers, sporty leather jeans and velvet evening suits are all part of the same fashion tale.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who will wear Armani in the remake of “Shaft” due for release this summer, was a front-row spectator at the much-applauded show.
“I loved the leather and the long sleek look,” Jackson said.
Earlier Wednesday, Calvin Klein, America’s champion of unfussy fashion, had no problem embracing the new wave of no-nonsense tailoring.
The designer, who produces his menswear in Italy, also opted for a more slender, frame-hugging style. More often than not the favorite shade was a variation on black.
Calvin Klein’s new jacket is short and fits close to the body. Stuffed into the jacket’s narrow shoulders and tight sleeves, the muscular models at times looked like they had grabbed their kid brothers’ jackets out of the closet by mistake. A new boot-leg trouser completes the undersized look.
If Armani and Calvin Klein are into classic understatement, Gianfranco Ferre is leaning toward elegant overkill. His half-hour show in the mirrored showroom of his downtown headquarters--accompanied by a soundtrack that mixed arias from “La Traviata” with the roar of a motorcycle--was an ode to excess. Latter-day dandies in wide pinstriped double-breasted suits and luxurious fur scarves shared the runway with racers in slick leather jumpsuits and fur-covered helmets.
Earlier in the week, the Moschino label, known for its fashion satire, put its own spin on the pared-down fashion moment. The house closed the show with models parading down the runway outfitted in nothing but top hats and long johns.
On Saturday, Donatella Versace outfitted her models to look like street fighters. Her bad boy wears his pants slim, tight-fitting and very low-waisted. He likes them zipped--not only up the front, but also down the back.
His style is razor-sharp with silver blades adorning the collar of a black shirt or the lining of a black leather trench coat.
Donatella claims she drew inspiration for her tough look from the film “Fight Club,” in which yuppie guys fight boredom and malaise with fisticuffs.
The usually extreme Dolce & Gabbana duo opted this round for a cool look for good guys.
Uncomfortable on any street but Wall Street, the Dolce & Gabbana man wears fashionable three-piece suits in oversized pinstripes, either with a cashmere turtleneck or a white shirt and colorful tie, crocodile belts and loafers, and a trim, gray flannel, double-breasted overcoat.
Rather than a dark alley, he likes the light of day, with bright colors, flashy prints and trendy details like zipped or snapped trouser cuffs.
To mark the current Jubilee year, which celebrates 2,000 years of Christianity, the designing duo created three pairs of “Jubilee Jeans” crafted from antique gold-threaded Venetian fabric used for religious vestments. The price is as lofty as the inspiration: $25,000 a pair.
Tom Ford’s fashion is so upscale it makes the word luxury seem impoverished. Crocodile bags, silk scarves, embroidered velvet jackets and big bow ties combine to create a new Gucci look that outdoes even the noblest style of Gucci’s heydays in the 1960s.
Ford’s latest fashion trick is to turn feminine favorites into masculine styles. Thus the silk scarf becomes a man’s bandanna, the capri pant transforms into slim flannel trousers, the shoulder bag turns into a crocodile carryall, and the twin set is reborn as a silk shirt with matching cashmere sweater. Belted mink fur jackets with matching furry boots complete the look.
To make sure the impression isn’t too soft, Ford toughens it up with padded leather outfits gleaned from macho motorcycle styles.
At a fashion party thrown by GQ magazine in a Renaissance Milan palazzo Sunday night, the American designer denied rumors he would leave Gucci for Yves Saint Laurent, which Gucci bought in a $1 billion deal last fall.
“Gucci is my first love,” Ford insisted.
The Fendi fashion house presented its version of the new millennium man on Monday.
Like Gucci, Fendi is into luxury looks: fur bomber jackets, elegant fur-collared overcoats, gilded leather pants, and logo cable-knit sweaters.
The new Fendi footwear is based on Grandpa’s zippered slippers and comes in cozy fur as well as leather and heavy loden fabric.
Fendi also opts for the rebirth of the tie, an item which had been relegated to the back of the fashion drawer for almost a decade. Even Donatella’s bad boy owns one, albeit with cryptic Gothic lettering.
