CLASS, POWER, CHAOS
John GALLIANO’S servants and jesters appeared as a grubby, beaten and bloody lot, which might have been throwaway runway theatrics if not for the world stock market plunge that dominated headlines last week, portending a bleak retail environment.
Set on a runway roiling with dry ice vapor, Galliano’s thuggy collection of fur-trimmed leathers, denim, checked sports coats and baggy trousers was inspired by London’s 17th century frost fairs that would turn the frozen Thames into an impromptu carnival for everyone from kings to executioners. Because changes in the climate meant the Thames eventually stopped freezing over, demolishing the venue, the designer could have been making a sly comment on global warming -- or the transitory nature of our good times and the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots.
With punks at Comme des Garcons and girlie men at Prada, gentleman bank robbers at Louis Vuitton and royalty at Giorgio Armani, power and status were clearly on the minds of designers this season in Milan and Paris.
And yet, aside from Miuccia Prada’s gender-bashing, feminized and fetishized men’s collection -- which included models in hybrid cummerbund-thongs, halter-top waistcoats and sequined tutus -- the shows were mostly devoid of gratuitous theatrics.
Instead, designers showed recession-proof, easy-to-wear clothes that managed to be both youthful and elegant, a combination that’s been missing from the men’s mix of recent seasons.
Designers were mad for plaid, obsessed with military influences, and eager to add formal-wear touches to everything from ski pants to Russian-style greatcoats. The hot new real estate is the collar area, which turns last season on its head and makes the neck the new ankle. The pairing of high and low reflected the reality of today’s mix-and-match approach to dressing and the rising popularity of suit separates.
Giorgio Armani updated old-school, 1930s-era style with the high collars and rich velvet trappings of the nobleman for a collection he dubbed Regal. It was full of luxurious, generously cut velvet trousers (backstage, Armani mentioned a street-wear influence), soft, jersey-like shirts with tuxedo-like bibs, shawl-collared waistcoats and heightened-crown hats. Two pieces -- a quilted black, double-breasted suit and a similar trench -- could have easily doubled as sleepwear.
Backstage, Armani explained his take on the collar, which fell somewhere between shirting fabric turtleneck and cravat. “A shirt with a high, stiff collar forces you to hold yourself in a certain regal manner,” he said, noting with a chuckle that the future king of England, Prince William of Wales, might look handsome in one of his suits.
Donatella Versace was mining the same territory with a collection that put manly men in strong-shouldered, double-breasted jackets with built-in hoods, overcoats kicked up a notch with silk lapels -- some so wide they extended to the shoulders -- and generously cut trousers with ruler-width, plastic taping that aped a tuxedo side seam.
More in the vein of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” than his majesty, Neil Barrett’s “tuxedo ski” collection is just the sort of thing James Bond might wear to battle Blofeld on the slopes before schussing into an Alpine village for a little apres something: ski pants adorned with the tuxedo-stripe side seam, ski boots rendered in patent leather, silk/wool waistcoats with sporty racer backs and woolen ski overalls that were paired with formal-looking tailored ski parkas, tuxedo jackets and army field jackets.
Gucci’s collection felt a generation younger than what creative director Frida Giannini sent down the runway last season, perhaps because her inspiration was New York City band Gogol Bordello and lead singer Eugene Hutz (who inspired a character in the 2006 movie “Wristcutters: A Love Story”).
The result was a Bohemian-military mixed bag; velvet and corduroy suits, accessorized at the waist with printed scarves and military-style medals (emblazoned with the Gucci griffin logo); soft-shouldered jackets paired with slouchy, extra-long trousers; brass buttons, metal-studded epaulets, braided metallic cuffs and the occasional Russian army jacket hammered home the warmonger/peacenik dichotomy.
A favorite piece was the new cardigan jacket in gray knit with a brown leather button placket, shoulder details and metal buttons just tough enough to keep Mr. Rogers from getting beaten up in the officers’ club.
By comparison, the Etro show was in a parallel universe, with vegetable gardens sprouting from the runway and models sporting onion and rose motifs. Backstage, designer Kean Etro denied that his cheery homage to the harvest was a reaction to the prevailing militaristic and somber vibe. “I always go my own way,” he said. Still, his tossed salad of a runway show included some nice looks that touched on the season’s overarching themes, including mixed plaids.
In Paris, there was a similar feeling of freshness and vigor at Louis Vuitton, where Marc Jacobs and menswear designer Paul Helbers had, as Snoop might say, “their mind on their money and their money on their mind” with colors and patterns inspired by old Russian, Greek and Israeli banknotes -- almost gem-like greens and blues, worn-in browns and grays. Money was also the root of the collection’s back story based on the 1963 film “Melodie en sous-sol,” about a pair of well-heeled gentleman robbers of a Cannes casino.
The result was a collection of look-good, move-fast pieces: roomy, straight-leg trousers, sapphire-colored suits, utilitarian safe-cracking clothes with secret pockets and a scarf printed like a bank floor plan (actually the layout of the Champs-Elysees store).
But the real money in the bank will most certainly be the new Damier Graphite pattern that was introduced on several accessories, a new iteration of the checkerboard design Georges Vuitton patented 120 years ago. The masculine, black-on-gray version was trotted out on motorcycle helmets, briefcases and luggage. Expect to see the collection zoom out of the LV boutiques when it arrives in mid-August.
Yves Saint Laurent didn’t hold a runway show this season, instead channeling resources into an arresting video starring British actor Simon Woods (HBO viewers will recognize him as Gaius Octavian from “Rome”). In the video, which can be viewed at www.ysl.com, Woods swirls, splashes and thrashes his way through a shower of rose petals, while kitted out in the fall/winter collection, and pocket squares tumble through the air backed by an infectious, pulsating soundtrack.
“The message is fashion for everybody,” the designer, Stefano Pilati, said of the project. So it was no surprise that his inspiration was David Bowie, the archetypal creative chameleon. The collection similarly had it both ways -- some trousers were tapered, others flared; there were velvet biker jackets and three-quarter-length coats that could have been pulled from a Pendleton catalog. Bowie-esque touches included slim silhouettes and lighting bolt details.
Kris Van Assche’s sophomore effort (and first runway show) at the helm of Dior Homme started in style with designers John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld showing their support in the front row. But the endless permutations of intricately stitched and folded black on black on black seemed like nothing more than a grab bag. There were tight pants, followed by a rehash of last season’s parachute pants, tuxedo jackets, motorcycle jackets, vests and an incongruously delicate swarm of black butterflies perched on shirts and jackets. (Van Assche explained it is a reference to the French word for “bow tie.”)
There were dark moments too, when a jacket appeared to be festooned with thousands of pins (think Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” and another jacket with a cracked-glass design that mimicked the look of a bullet hole right through the heart).
Rei Kawakubo struck just the right note at Comme des Garcons Homme Plus, managing to encompass the entire menswear season in an elegant range of tartan-trimmed, 1930s and punk-influenced pieces. Jackets were the highlight, shot through with plaid accents and patched with punk-lettered slogans such as “lies, lies, lies,” “born again pagan” and “closing down sale.”
Not every designer can make a silk top hat and “going out of business” sloganeering work on the same runway, much less the same outfit. But with the world in a free fall, Kawakubo’s dapper chap in the topper, tartan and taglines isn’t just the face of the season to come, he’s all of us.
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