Men’s – Sober and Grounded. Dries Van Noten AW17

January 24, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Autumn-winter 2017 wasn’t just another brilliant men’s collection chez Dries Van Noten. 99 is quite a number – and presenting your 99th collection is a big deal. Other designers would do a big party after the show, while Dries, in his manner, took a moment for reflection. “I wanted it to be grounded.” Deciding on what’s essential for him in a men’s wardrobe, the Belgian designer took a spin on basics, keeping them slightly more sober than usual. Wool coats with boxy shoulders (sounds Balenciaga, but looks much more refined); a great line of denim pants (!); Dr. Martens-like boots. Van Noten doesn’t play 70s-that, 90s-that trends: actually, these were the clothes he used to wear in his early days, and continues to wear on daily basis up to now. You will wear one of those big Peruvian-wool knits forever, just like the grey cardigan or oldie-but-goodie logo sweatshirt. There’s this sense of timeless in Dries’ latest collection and t’s real. No place for cliché here.

Men’s – Existentialism. Lemaire AW17

January 19, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Yolk-yellow peeked out beneath coffee-brown. Dove-grey and camel-beige. Poetic black and elegant indigo-blue. As you can see right away, Christophe Lemaire‘s autumn-winter 2017 collection for men was a beautiful conversation between colours. And the clothes were beautiful too, in every meaning of this word. I’m absolutely a Lemaire-type of person and I would wear anything coming from this collection right now. The loose-fit of pants; perfectly tailored pea-coat; parka jacket that would stay in my wardrobe for ever. Aah. Yet, it’s all distinctively French, and the collection quietly nods to the existentionalist-writer style. Albert Camus, for instance.

Men’s – Francesco Risso. Marni AW17

January 15, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In the fashion industry, and precisely in Milan, there are two types of debuts. Like Alessandro Michele at Gucci, where he scored ten marks out of ten from the editors and buyers; and like, for example, at Roberto Cavalli or Jil Sander, where even the term ‘debut’ doesn’t make anyone ecctatic. Francesco Risso‘s debut collection at Marni falls into the latter camp – in fact, some of the least-informed guests could have thought it’s just another great Marni collection, without any big changes going on. A Prada alumni, who was raised on Miuccia Prada’s and Consuelo Castiglioni’s (Marni’s founder) neo-Italian aesthetic, presented his first collection for the conceptual brand in form of a menswear show. Lanky-looking models with long hair wore fluffy shearling coats, checked sweatpants, too-big trousers and 70s striped knits. Lemon-yellow sweatshirt with a fur lining looked equally Marni-geek, as the colourful beanies and pajama shirts. You can’t judge a designer by his first collection, but I’m quite sure Risso’s Marni won’t go through collossal rebranding and major advertising campaign, like Gucci or Balenciaga did in the past months. It’s quintessentially Marni – and who doesn’t love Marni as it is?

Men’s – Kaliningrad. Gosha Rubchinskiy AW17

January 13, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

During men’s fashion month, Florence’ Pitti Uomo and Milan are the sure go-to destinations after London. However, the new-gen designers coming from the former Soviet Union are here to break fashion’s conventions. Gosha Rubchinskiy, skater-loving photographer and designer from the bloc, used to present his collections in Paris; for spring-summer 2017 he took us to Italy; and for autumn-winter 2017, he invited a couple of key editors and buyers to Kaliningrad. If someone’s unsure about the geographical position of the show’s location, that’s the capital of Russian province divided by Lithuania and Poland.

While Soccer World Cup 2018 is taking place here, Rubchinskiy had a perfect reason to take the industry to this rather off-fashion’s-radar place. Now, streetwear fanatics, prepare for jaw-dropping news: Gosha presented his Adidas Football collaboration, which is purely symbolic in regards of the country’s Cold War-era black market history, and Russian’s football team gear. The collaboration consists of pieces ranging from football shirts to hoodies and accessories, all baring the world ‘football’ in Cyrillic script. The clothes were styled in a classical, Gosha way – skate-fit sportswear, boy-from-the-hood tracksuits and ironically masculine suits. Synthetic-white sneakers and a blue shirt – Russian guy look from the 90s, just like the geometric, post-modern prints on the slouchy knits. So, are you in the team?

Warm Up. Pringle of Scotland Pre-Fall’17

January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fran Stringer became the creative director of Pringle of Scotland – the Scottish, 200-years old knitwear house – about a year ago. Looking at the brand’s past collections, and at Stringer’s outings, one thing is quite clear at the very first glance. Pringle of Scotland is the go-to label for anything that’s knitted, in a cool way. Fusing the brand’s archival codes and her own ‘loose’ aesthetic, Fran delivered a brilliant pre-fall collection filled with printed cashmere ponchos, over-sized The Fair Isle sweaters and argyle-patterned cardigans. While it’s freezing outside, you just wish to be covered up with all those absolutely non-itchy wool pieces.