Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology

A penny for my (fashion-related) thoughts

There are journalists who complain about the relentless rhythm of fashion weeks. I can see the point, but then journalists reporting from war zones usually don’t complain about the “relentless rhythm” of bombs falling on their heads, do they? In fact, reporting about fashion can be as hard as reporting from a war zone (blood included...), yet the worst thing about fashion weeks and about fashion in general is not the unstoppable pace of this industry, but the uselessness of some people who actually work in this industry, namely the PR agents and press officers.

Despite finding some genuinely helpful people among this sad category of human beings, I have also had some of the most nightmarish experiences ever recorded in my life thanks to a bunch of hopeless PR agents. By now if you work as a PR and you had some kind of contact with me, you will probably be wondering if I’m referring to you. I had the worst experiences with Italian PR agencies, so this statement might already exclude you from my list of most hated people or might instantly turn you into my worst enemy.
 
I sometimes think I should be saving some of the most entertaining stories about my experiences with PR agencies and press offices for a book, but, not having the time at the moment to write a long tome, I think I will briefly summarise some of the best stories here.

I first learnt about the schizoid way in which many Italian PR agencies work at a music festival in Arezzo a long long time ago. Among the bands invited to play that year there were also Sonic Youth. I remember there was a huge queue of journalists outside their dressing room. All of them wanted to speak to the band, but we were all told by the random PR woman who was keeping guard in front of the dressing room door that no interviews had been planned yet. Then two young guys with an American accent who claimed they wrote for a fanzine went to speak to the PR, told them they were American and they were immediately admitted to the “sancta sanctorum” without any problems. I never understood why the PR took that decision in that specific case, but I learnt something very important then: many people working in public relationships do not know what they are doing.

As the years passed I kept on becoming more and more suspicious about PR people: last year I asked the Italian PR agency that dealt with Diego Dolcini’s sandals for Scholl if we could have some images for a news piece we were doing about the sandals on Zoot Magazine. I was told to send a magazine so that Scholl could see it and decide if it was OK to be featured in it. I was honestly tempted to tell the PR in question that, given the fact that Scholl was still perceived all over the world as a company producing orthopedic shoes, even a mere 50 words hastily written on Dolcini’s sandals on the crappest fashion magazine on the planet wouldn’t have damaged the company. I didn’t because I don’t have the time nor the free magazines to waste on clueless people.    

Then there were countless Italian PR agencies who were asked to provide images of catwalks for fashion weeks round ups or for specific articles on the history of fashion and 1) never replied; 2) replied but never sent the images; 3) sent low-resolution images four weeks after the deadline. This sort of behaviour always left me a bit puzzled because I never understood if my language was so incomprehensible they didn’t get what I was asking for or if the people who read my emails/faxes were paid so well that they spent all their money on excessive amounts of drugs that basically fried their brain. The doubts, as usual, remain.

And what about that time an Italian guy working for a British company “organised” for me a visit to the headquarters (now turned into a museum) of a once famous Italian sportswear company (now owned by a British group) and after arriving at the meeting place I discovered no formal visit or interviews had actually been arranged?                 

The most annoying thing PR agencies ever did to me, though, was denying an interview with a designer telling me he/she was too busy to speak with the press, only to contact me again a few months after trying to organise an interview with the same designer who was suddenly available (or rather in desperate need of publicity). I’m a cynical, nasty and extremely sadistic person and when this happens I either say I’m too busy or send them their first reply to my first email asking them how come that the genius is now suddenly available and happy to have a chat with a nobody like me.
   
Yes, because many PR agencies/press offices do not take you into consideration unless you are famous enough, i.e. you don’t write for a magazine they know. This can be rather silly considering fashion is a bit like a dangerous jungle when it comes to weeklies, monthlies, online publications and blogs. Journalists writing for the most important publications will just tell you that once you build enough credibility, people will start noticing you. I agree, but sometimes to illustrate my credibility I need to interview a designer and this can usually be arranged only via a PR.          

The recent Pitti Immagine Uomo and Milan menswear catwalks also proved the uselessness of Italian press offices and PR agencies. After countless phone calls a PR organised a phone interview with the head of a distribution company presenting two of the brands he worked with at a Milan tradeshow. Asked how he had started his career and managed to build up such a successful company the interviewee complained: “It would take me at least 15 minutes to go through this answer, can’t you do the interview with my PR agent?” Utterly annoying answer, I thought, yet the sheepish PR agreed to answer my questions in her boss's place via email that same night. Obviously she didn’t, but she also tried to arrange another email interview with a Japanese client that, guess what?, never happened.

But the examples can go on and on: asked to provide images or a video of the Thom Browne’s Autumn/Winter 2009-10 presentation, the Pitti Immagine Uomo press office preferred not to answer me, maybe they were scared that I would have written something nasty about one of the few interesting events that happened at Pitti this year? Who knows.       

A few months ago Italian publishing house Salani Editore released a book entitled Alla corte di re moda (Literally “At the court of King Fashion”) by two Italian fashion journalists. According to the book subtitles, the volume should have revealed scandalous truths about the fashion industry, about designers, catwalks and the fashion media. Yet, unfortunately, it doesn’t really contain anything shocking or that might truly hurt anybody.

The book was indeed put together by copying from the Internet a few basic and banal facts about the most famous fashion journalists or editors working for the most important magazines, dailies or television channels, and assembling these bits and pieces with random interviews done by the authors. Isn’t it a bit redundant writing about Anna Wintour and her legendary “Devil Wears Prada” fame, "beautiful" Carine Roitfeld, "knowledgeable" Suzy Menkes, "nice" Hilary Alexander and "allegedly corrupted" Franca Sozzani? I found annoying the way the authors complain about how hard it can be reporting about fashion weeks and catwalks (did you think the job was all about going to parties and having fun?) and the way they complain about the fact that in Italy many fashion critics do not seem to have the honesty and sincerity of British journalists. Amazingly there's no mention of messy PR or press officers in the book, but, obviously, once you say something nasty about a specific PR or press officer you lose the chance to interview the clients they represent. In a nutshell, it's better to shut up. So much for journalistic integrity.      

What Italy needs at the moment is not a book about what Anna Wintour eats to remain as thin as a rake, but some integrity from its fashion critics and a massive overdose of professionalism from PR agents and press officers.

Given my previous experiences, I guess it will take ages before it happens. But I’m still (relatively) young, so I will sit and patiently wait. Who knows, in the process, I might even get the answers to the questions I sent many weeks ago to that elusive PR representing a supposedly hip Japanese brand.          

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The age of Haute Couture: Valentino Vs Jean-Paul Gaultier

The final day at the Paris’ Haute Couture catwalks reconfirmed there are some designers who still conceive high fashion as a fossilised institution lost in the folds of time that shouldn’t renovate itself but still offer the perfect ladylike outfit for its mature customers. Who am I talking about? Valentino.

The designer himself might have denied in a statement issued a couple of days ago that he had any contact with the new creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli (of Valentino’s accessory design team fame), but if he didn’t supervise the collection, then his ghost haunted it in a powerful way.

Though Chiuri and Piccioli tried to bring Haute Couture to the “masses” by, well, broadcasting the Valentino catwalk live in the Paris, Milan and Rome boutiques, the first collection since the dismissal of Alessandra Facchinetti was respectfully safe.

The Chiuri-Piccioli duo did their homework well, studied the archives like the master wanted and came up with a perfect Valentino collection that had one merit, the potential of exciting the designer’s mature fans. There was absolutely nothing to complain about it sartorially speaking: there were some beautiful creamy fan-pleated or crystal embroidered coats, 60s suits, embroidered evening dresses, deep green evening gowns with feathered fringes and dresses with minutely pleated folds that formed rows of roses.

One colour – Valentino red – prevailed, but there wasn’t anything too controversial, revolutionary or bursting with Chiuri-Piccioli’s personal imprint (despite a timid attempt with a few turquoise gowns that they promptly suppressed fearing the ire of the great master, maybe?) striding down the catwalk. I fear that Valentino, rather than turning into a legendary Roman emperor is becoming like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, and, in a last attempt at surviving in a fast industry in crisis in which even the next Jackie Kennedy is opting for younger and less known designer, he is trying to clone himself. Valentino’s "Palpatine syndrome" brings us back to the usual question: when a designer decides to retire or dies, should his/her fashion house stop producing or should it be somehow rejuvenated?

While the doubts remain and while Valentino’s fashion house keeps on refusing any attempt at a much needed rejuvenation, Jean-Paul Gaultier proved instead you can age and still offer Haute Couture designs to a clientele comprising a wide age group.

So, while Lagerfeld at Chanel dreamt of white sheets of paper, Gaultier had a vision of ink and pens reproducing on different fabrics beautiful calligraphic swirls.

The French designer perfectly balanced this theme with his skills and trademark designs: there were some pinstriped suits, high waisted toreador-style trousers and cropped jackets, hints at his legendary corsets turned for the occasion into perfectly structured cages studded with beads and crystals and jackets with sharp shoulders, but everything was characterised by precise calligraphic patterns.

In some cases the patterns were reproduced in print on the fabric, in others they formed the thinnest lace-like decorations, created architecturally abstract motifs and fringes, or turned into a fishnet fabric overimposed on a suit (a technique often used to restore old and frayed costumes).

Bathing suits were transformed into evening gowns and the traditional dresses of flamenco dancers were given an erotic twist as they could reveal the bras and knickers hiding underneath.

Jean-Paul Gaultier corsets and trousers with fishnet inserts or see-through wedding dresses might be for a younger audience, but letting 51 year old model turned designer Inès de la Fressange striding down the catwalk in his more sensible designs, showed that Gaultier is still able to offer striking alternatives to different age groups while still guaranteeing head-turning exclusivity to all those (young or less young) ladies who opt for his creations.

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Paris Haute Couture: Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, Martin Margiela

Different people react to gloomy times in different ways. Karl Lagerfeld seems for example to have an ethereal vision of our critical times. Indeed, at Chanel’s thousands of white paper flowers were used to decorate the pillars, background and staircase from which the models descended.

There were at least two metaphors behind the paper used to create this extraordinary set: the beauty of starting something from scratch, from a white sheet in this case, and the fear of seeing this scary white sheet in front of you and of not being able to write or sketch down anything because temporary struck by a sudden lack of imagination and inspiration.

The paper theme was used also in elaborate and gravity-defying floral headdresses, some of them complete of immaculate crown of thorns, worn by the models. The pieces - created by Japanese hair stylist Katsuya Kamo - perfectly matched the cut, decorations and beauty of the designs on the catwalk.

The overall effect from a distance was magnificent, but the true beauty of the collection was in the details: pleated organza cuffs gave a special softness and elegance to rigidly cut jackets; cascades of tiny beads, sequins and appliquéd flowers decorated cropped jackets, tops and skirts; delicate flowers bloomed on necklines and embroidered black stars dotted pure white dresses.

Contrasts were created by using different fabrics in the same outfit, such as cellophane and organza flowers, fragile lace and rigid tulle. Glamorous little black dresses weren’t missing, but the climax arrived at the very end, with a bride in a trouser outfit complete with long train trailing behind her and a massive paper rose framing her head.      

While everything was black and white at Chanel, colours exploded at Christian Lacroix, where as usual there was an excess of colours, prints and patterns. You could easily write 1,000 words on each Lacroix creation: indeed, each design is usually the synthesis of various inspirations and is made using different fabrics.

Lacroix’s haute couture collection was a visually overloaded treat thanks to pink puff skirts, long fluid gowns in warm shades and dresses that seemed to evoke images of Madonnas covered in votive offers.

The French designer seemed to have added to his usual excesses a new passion à la Iris Apfel, tons of jewellery. Lacroix was never too moderate in his use of accessories, but this time they were even more excessive, a few examples were the huge bangles in different colours stacked one after the other and the oversized diamanté earrings.

Riccardo Tisci was obviously more moderate, yet quite interesting. The colour palette of Tisci’s collection for Givenchy was never too harsh, featuring designs in white, soft pink, yellow and delicate violet. 

But the main point of this collection stood in the superficially effortless way in which the designer wrapped up the fabric around the body of his models, piled up folds of organza on the shoulders for a softer and high fashioned power look and created vestal-like long evening gowns in ethereal fabrics, shrouding the models in veils that looked like Martha Graham’s costume in her 1930 ballet ‘Lamentation’.

A final mention goes to Martin Margiela. Famous for deconstructing garments and recreating astonishing new pieces by recycling different materials, the Belgian maison produced unique outfits for its "Artisanal Spring" collection.

Old denims were given a new life after being shredded and used as the fringe-like elements to create a one-legged outfit; hair combs were linked like Paco Rabanne’s metal disks to make a mini-dress; shoelaces formed the long fringes of an evening dress and plastic price-tag fasteners were cleverly used to create a fur-like effect on a coat.

The most striking piece was the classic Martin Margiela white jacket, completely reinvented and entirely made with paper towels.

Haute Couture can be extremely expensive, but it can undoubtedly provide us with countless ideas and inspirations.

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Three approaches to Haute Couture: Christian Dior, Alexis Mabille, Armani Privé

I must admit that I'm a little bit bored by the way the fashion media keep on repeating themselves. A very basic example: every time the Haute Couture catwalks are on, fashion critics wonder whether, with the global economic situation we’re living in, it's right or wrong showcasing collections featuring dresses and accessories that only a tiny fraction of the global population can buy.

I agree, Haute Couture can be redundant and excessive, yet I never conceived it as something exclusively for rich and privileged people. Haute Couture is indeed a form of art and even if most of us can't buy it, we can still look at it, admire the craftsmanship that went in it and get inspired.

The biggest mistake the fashion media often commit is seeing Haute Couture as something produced by one single mind, the designer’s, whereas this form of art is created by hundreds of highly skilled artisans who put hours and hours of work into each creation. Great fashion designs should be treated like works of art, why would the Department of Culture, Media and Sport of the British government be otherwise trying to prevent the oversea sale of 11 dresses by couturier Madeleine Vionnet?

The “Haute Couture equals art” equation was the basic principle behind Christian Dior’s catwalk. Galliano cleverly mixed Dior's New Look with the art of the Flemish Masters and with historical hints. A few yellow-gold designs evoked the colour of the dress in Vermeer's “The Lacemaker” or “The Milkmaid”, while the blue of the headdress in the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” was used as the main palette for other creations and Van Dyck's collars and sleeves inspired Galliano elaborate necklines and sleeves. As the collection progressed, the designer moved on, revealing a broader range of influences.

The white gowns with beautiful embroidered, beaded or painted blue flowers echoed the colours of the famous Delft pottery made in the Netherlands between the 16th and 18th century while Dior's hourglass silhouette was cleverly altered using historical references.

Galliano reintroduced crinolines that helped skirts standing away from the body, giving the designer the chance to experiment with yards and yards of fabric. The surplus fabric was then used to create wave-like motifs or gathered into pleats that formed elegant decorations on the front, back and at hems.     

Galliano’s extraordinarily spectacular vision of Haute Couture, contrasted with the vision of another designer, the youngest on schedule, Alexis Mabille. Mabille’s catwalk was a bit too varied since it  featured around fifty looks, both mens and womenswear, ready-to-wear and haute couture designs. 

While Mabille proved he can effortlessly design timeless long, light and fluid gowns or minimal yet elegant little black dresses with cute white lace collars à la Wednesday Addams, the young designer also showed he has got a genuine talent for haute couture.

His best pieces were indeed the most painstakingly elaborate ones, especially his coats or men’s vests with thousands of appliquéd silk flowers or perfectly cut coats lined with mink.

Mabille has the right intuitions also when it comes to menswear (check out the multiple bow tie shirt in bright red) and if he could get out of the mental restrictions and limits he seems to have imposed on himself, he could become one of the best young designers around.

Armani Privé’s collection pleasantly struck me: this wasn’t certainly the first time Armani drew from his beloved Asia, but he did so this time in an interesting way, focusing on the past, on glamour and on a younger audience.

I’m not sure if Armani read the 1934 guide book All about Shanghai, but I kept on thinking about the description of the city contained in that volume while I looked at Armani's designs: “…city of amazing paradoxes and fantastic contrasts; contradiction of manners and morals; a vast brilliantly-hued…panoramic mural of the best and the worst of Orient and Occident. Shanghai with its modern skyscrapers…modern department stores…modern motors…is the Big Parade of life.”

Rather than opting for qipao-inspired creations, Armani designed modern outfits with little contrasting details: his trouser or skirt suits seemed to have an erotically exotic power, thanks to the pagoda like details incorporated in the shoulders, cuffs and hems; the oversized tassels used to fasten the jackets gave them a slightly surreal touch and the lacquer reds and blacks of Chinese pieces of furniture infused the bright coloured suits or deep black evening gowns.

Lace tops and dresses evoked Art Deco atmospheres and brought to my mind visions of glamorous femme fatales and dominatrixes à la Angela in Madam Satan or Fah Lo See in The Mask of Fu Manchu. 

Yesterday Galliano, Mabille and Armani provided us with three very different but equally engaging visions of Haute Couture, managing to remind us that fashion is a undeniably an art form in its own right.    

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Paris Menswear: Lanvin, Masatomo, Dior Homme, Maison Martin Margiela, Walter Van Beirendonck, Romain Kremer, Gareth Pugh

Luxury might still be the keyword at Lanvin, but the Autumn/Winter 2009-10 menswear collection looked at a relaxed sort of luxury. Coats, suits, cardigans and trousers were all characterised by soft silhouettes and a dark palette of black, grey, brown and a very beautiful burgundy shade. Silky scarves and woollen hats worn slightly tilted on the left or the right completed this luxuriously sensual look.

Masatomo’s collection worried me a bit. Rynshu Hashimoto is well known for his use of minimum details and passion for the dark colours inspired by tenmoku pottery, two features that were perfectly embodied by most of the outfits in this collection, such as dark grey jackets and relaxed pants with hundreds of asymmetrical pleats.

Yet Masatomo is also known for his use of unusual materials, for mixing extremes and for launching unlikely trends. In a previous collection he employed a lot of pink, a colour that was later on adopted by many other designers. In this collection he used quite a lot of animal prints, mixing leopard and tiger prints in various metallic shades, and in different sizes, creating somehow excessive contrasts. I honestly fear this flamboyant excess by Masatomo might become a trend, but deep down I hope it will be popular only in the most rock'n'rollish environments.
     
Kris Van Assche's menswear collection for Dior Homme seemed to be based on subtle geometries. Asymmetrical lapels were used on trench coats, triangular cut outs were used as decorative motifs on jackets and waistcoats and voluminous high cowl-necks gave an architectural touch to tops and shirts. Clever contrasts were created with outfits that featured drop-crotch pants and the perfectly-cut skinny suits.  

Trench coats, shirts and jackets were rain-speckled at Maison Martin Margiela and among the evening wear there were ironic post-party wine stained garments. There were very few really striking pieces, though, such as jackets with multi-layered collars.  

Walter Van Beirendonck reconfirmed himself as the king of bold colours and cartoon-like graphics.

T-shirts and jumpers with cut outs that formed the distorted and almost monster-looking faces of Columbian idols and Inca masks were the most original garments; coats with wing-like lapels that almost covered the face of the models were the most interesting pieces of outerwear, while beige or grey suits with subtle  piping that looked like the "ribs" of Schiaparelli’s skeleton dresses (a detail that Van Beirendonck has by now made his own) were the most wearable.

While Van Beirendonck proved a designer can still live and create in financially critical times, while being original and avant-garde, Romain Kremer forgot to balance wearability with conceptualism. Kremer’s perfectly wearable coats and jackets with inserts in see-through plastic were somehow outshadowed by bizarre and at times grotesque showpieces that looked like revised costumes for Oskar Schlemmer’s Treppenwitz pantomime. 

Gareth Pugh’s first menswear collection proved instead that a proper balance between excess and wearability can still be reached. Pugh’s collection featured all his trademark designs – metallic shades, goat hair jackets, skinny suits featuring sharp shoulders, trench coats and jumpers with nails jutting out and diamond quilted coats and jackets ideal for gothic harlequins – yet, since winning the ANDAM prize, the quality of the young designer's creations has dramatically changed for the better.

PVC was still used but together with other materials, such as leather, wool and fur, while Stephen Jones’ gothic headdresses completed the outfits. Though this is not a collection for every man and definitely not for men who don’t share with Pugh his "dark knight" sensibility, it will be interesting to see how these garments will be worn once they get off the catwalk and onto the streets.  

There are rumours now that the LVMH empire might be after Pugh, but for the time being there’s only one thing for sure: the young designer has managed to bring together the British and French fashion media winning their approval and getting the only genuinely raving reviews of the A/W 09-10 menswear season.  

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Paris Menswear: Miharayasuhiro, Hermès and a bit of Sunday pondering

Walking over sand can be immensely sensual, but the sand Mihara Yasuhiro had in mind wasn't of the type you find on a pristine beach. The Japanese designer was probably thinking more about dunes, deserts and the sand-like dust that often covers explorers' shoes when he designed his Autumn/Winter menswear collection. Exploration and movement were indeed the two main themes behind the name of the collection, "Left and Right", two inspirations that pervaded each single outfit.

Leaving behind the Joseph Beuys-inspired outfits from his Spring/Summer 09 collection, Yasuhiro focused on a sort of layered and worn out look that prevailed throughout the catwalk. The models looked like explorers carrying everything they needed with them who had been walking and walking for days, battling harsh climatic conditions. There was also a touch of ethnic in the tailored jackets and coats that incorporated panels and inserts of ponchos, but modernism wasn't forgotten also thanks to Husam El Odeh's jewellery. 

The monotony created by the perfectly-cut suits in dark shades at Hermès was broken by two bright colours, yellow and red, used for trousers, cardigans, jackets and even raincoats. These wonderful splashes of colour weren't enough though to really make Véronique Nichanian's menswear collection for Hermès distinctively different from many other menswear collections seen between Milan and Paris.

After Milan menswear finished leaving behind a deep sense of crisis, and after the shadows of the economic downturn spread upon Paris during the latest catwalks, I have been pondering a bit about what the menswear catwalks have been missing so far. The answer was almost immediate: fresh ideas.

The London College of Fashion's MA Fashion Design and Technology course showcase that took place a few days ago was an eye opener in many ways.

I will concentrate on the winner of the MA collection of the year, Manjit Deu, and on his glamorous sequinned womenswear in a future post, while I feel compelled to mention in this post about menswear Jie Pi's 80s influenced metallic jackets and trousers and sequinned tops in shades of gold, silver and blue; Rohan Kale's fresh technicolour suits paired with bright orange shirts and colorful bow ties and Dimitri Stavrou's tailored black, gold and silver jackets with long carbon fibre fringes. I'm not sure if Stavrou explored the use of horsehair in fabrics employed for interior design purposes and applied the idea to his menswear, but it looks like an interesting concept (focus on the clothes and pretend you're not seeing the amateurish female model in the video...). 

Thinking about these new talents it's easy to realise that, apart from fresh ideas, also fun and experimentation have been missing from the menswear catwalks. There's no doubt, these are times of crisis, but these are also extremely creative times and if fashion houses do not renew themselves dramatically (and there are enough talents out there who can help them doing it...), they will easily keep on losing money and clients, while their catwalks will end up being outdated and useless events.   

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Paris Menswear: Rick Owens, Comme de Garçons Homme Plus, Givenchy, Raf Simons, John Galliano

The hieratical atmosphere that haunted Rick Owens’ Spring/Summer 09 New York catwalks seemed to pervade also his menswear collection.

Some of the models wore his signature veil-like headgear and black - in different shades, shapes and materials - was the only colour used throughout the catwalk (if you exclude the occasional white or brown-greyish garment).

Owens played with different textures – such as wool, fur, gazar and crocodile  - layering jackets and coats on long shirts or skirts worn with trousers and heavy boots. The whole look was rather monastic-gothic with barbaric undertones, but it somehow worked well.  

There was naturally a bit more variation and quirkiness in Comme des Garçons’ collection. Rei Kawakubo’s Homme Plus line featured classic suits in which leopard (that matched with the leopard slippers worn by the models throughout the catwalk, alternated to flamboyant two-tone shoes decorated with bows) or checked panels had been incorporated.

There were also some tailored skirts and workwear was used as the basic inspiration for a couple of long and elegant pinstriped aprons.

Yamamoto presented nightwear-looking suits and coats that looked like dressing gowns on his catwalk, but the subtle Kawakubo went for an ironic tailored jacket featuring a trompe l’oeil print of an elegant smoking jacket.

Some of the looks were completed by Stephen Jones’ minute hats, and the juxtaposition of classic Vs quirky, conventional Vs unusual (see also the classic jacket that incorporated on top of it what looked like a mess jacket) made this catwalk rather interesting.  

My Italian self would like to praise Riccardo Tisci’s collection, but my objective self is restraining me from doing so. Tisci’s  second menswear collection for Givenchy doesn’t seem to be too different from what he did previously and I honestly doubt that everyday mature men would really like to go around in shorts (though perfectly tailored), leggings (though in luxurious materials) and bandage shoes (though architecturally interesting).   

There was a rather interesting dichotomy that charmed me at Raf Simons’: there were sharp camel coats (one of the looks of next Autumn) and pinstriped suits, but there were also interesting bi-coloured gloves and classic jackets worn with sneakers.

Sartorial precision was the keyword, but with a bit more quirkiness added also thanks to rounded shoulder pieces in bright or neutral colours that in some cases looked like a crossover between a shoulder piece and the shortest mess jacket.

There were highwaymen, buccaneers, satyrs, funeral parlour assistants from the Victorian era and judges in boudoir attire at John Galliano’s catwalk, but what sounds like a bizarre and fun variety of men's outfits was also a major mistake.

While McQueen in Milan proved he can design clothes that look as perfect as film costumes but are still essentially wearable, Galliano gave the impression that a few of his outfits (even the lingerie…) were better if worn as costumes than as proper clothes. One example? The feathery, fluffy and fluid pants that completed the satyr look. I guess they might be a bit bizarre for everyday wear, still if you're heading to Venice for Carnival they might be the perfect option. 

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Paris Menswear: Yves Saint Laurent, Hugo by Hugo Boss, Number (N)ine, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yohji Yamamoto

It’s undeniable that while at Milan menswear the difficult financial climate generated a sombre and serious atmosphere and often resulted in collections that featured high quality garments but also a boring and unnecessary uniformity, Paris has brought back on the catwalk a bit more fun, art, interesting inspirations and variations.

The presentation for Yves Saint Laurent Homme opened with a 5 minute film, “Your Skin Against My Skin”, by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin that featured American actor Michael Pitt.

The short video showed Pitt's reactions to a sensual female voice describing the menswear collection. The woman's words hid a double entendre ("I want to lick this animal skin that falls, well-cut, from your round shoulder...I want to fondle this grey flannel jacket double breasted classic on your slightly puffed chest"), revealing also the main theme of the film, the erotic power of fashion and the way it generates and arouses desire. And Pilati generated enough desire, using different materials and moving from classic tailoring to younger and dynamic outlooks featuring black wide ankle-trousers layered over leggings-like trousers and paired with cropped jackets and shirts.

Hugo by Hugo Boss was a bit of a surprise. Belgian designer Bruno Pieters had quite a big responsibility being this the label’s first menswear show in Paris.

Though the first models that strode down the catwalk clad in sharply tailored skinny suits and little black sunglasses called to mind the clean, rigid and robotic aesthetic of Kraftwerk, there were references in the suits and coats with black and white geometric motifs to optical art, but also to the early prints of the Bauhaus.

Indeed the diagonal, herringbone or grid-like motifs reminded of the tapestries, carpets and textiles made at Bauhaus’ textile workshop.

Pieters also updated the classic civil mess jacket, introducing a grey or black slim mess jacket characterised by a very modern and slightly architectural cut paired with high-waisted lightweight trousers and stiff shirts. The uniformity of the collection was pleasantly broken by two outfits featuring a tailored camel coat and jacket, both worn with a bright red turtleneck jumper.        

Number (N)ine’s Autumn/Winter 2009-10 collection struck my attention as its designer, Takahiro Miyashita, seemed to take inspiration from  the fabrics used in 17th-18th century menswear for his doublet-looking jackets, though as he revealed, inspiration actually came from the fixings he saw in a hotel room. 

Yet the yellow colour, a popular shade for fabrics and embroideries in the early 18th century, and the cut of some jackets with their characteristically rococo flower motifs, the shape of their pocket flaps and the fine buttons on the cuffs hinted at precise historical references. Even the simple white shirts that models wore at the very end of the catwalk called to mind the 17th century linen nightgowns that usually featured minutely pleated folds on their front.       

Armani wore a Barack Obama badge at his Milan menswear catwalk, but Jean Paul Gaultier went further, celebrating black power throughout his collection and adding to his catwalk his trademark fun. Models, among them also cute children, sported Afros while the soundtrack blasted tracks from bands that represented the 2 Tone movement interspersed with The Clash. Straps that crisscrossed shirts, jackets and trousers were a rather punkish reference, but Gaultier balanced it with his usual well-cut suits, coats and trenches.

A trend has emerged at the recent Milan menswear catwalks: wearing underwear as outerwear. Come next Autumn, long johns might be all the rage, but Yohji Yamamoto has taken this trend further, sending down the catwalk men clad in striped pyjamas, robes and slippers or wearing boxers featuring prints of animals on top of trousers.

Lines were relaxed, knitwear was oversized and looked extremely comfortable and the vivid shades of the lining of a few coats worn inside out brought some much needed colour to the collection. The best pieces though were the ample and fluid samurai-like trousers worn with long jackets and coats.         

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A brief history of the early "Milanese style"

In a previous post I briefly explored the history of Florentine tailoring. The Milan menswear catwalks finished on Tuesday evening though, and, not having had enough time yesterday, I think I will pay homage to Milanese tailoring today. 

There aren't too many books about the history of Italian tailoring schools or about the history of the different tailoring "styles" and that’s a shame. Indeed, different tailors established in their regions or in the towns where they worked very different styles.

The Milanese tailoring style was for example the most relevant one in Italy. Based on a precise technique and on sober lines, this was the first style that became popular in the country and it was also fundamental in the development of modern menswear.

In the early 1800s Milan was flourishing: trading with other cities or countries had developed; wages had increased and the city and its population were changing really fast.

There were new shops, cafes and theatres and, though universities were closed, there were academies and institutions where people gathered to talk and organise debates. Piazza del Duomo was the pulsating heart of the city, the place from which all streets started and where people met.

On the North side of the square there was a row of low houses under which there was an arcade with famous cafes and shops selling luxury goods. Among them there was also the "Negozio di panni con sartoria" (Fabric and tailoring shop) that belonged to Pietro Prandoni, a Milanese entrepreneur who had started importing fabrics made in England. The shop had become quite famous and it was also mentioned in an early tourist guide published in 1828. Yet while his fame as an entrepreneur spread, almost nothing was known about his tailoring skills. To understand why this had happened we must go back in time: when the Austrians suppressed the famous Università dei Sarti (Tailors' University) in 1774, Milan-based tailors quickly fell into mediocrity.

At the end of the 1700s local tailors languished: young men who wanted to pursue this profession didn't have a proper school where they could study and could learn the ropes from random third-rate shops scattered around Milan. When France was put back in charge of the Po River valley after Napoleon crushed the Austrians at Marengo, not far from Milan, the conditions of Milanese tailors didn’t change: local tailors were considered so mediocre that, in 1779, France deemed them only worthy of sewing the uniforms for the French army.

It took decades for this precious form of craftsmanship to find its new life: around 1850 tailors tried to design clothes for everyday men and not suits that looked like "costumes", as it happened in the 1700s. Then Giuliano Prandoni, son of Pietro, arrived on the scene.

Giuliano grew up in his father's shop where, among the rolls of fabric, artists, tailors and textile experts met and passionately chatted about clothes and style. Prandoni launched the “Milanese style” and, though with the necessary changes, the main principles of this tailor’s style are still followed in today's designs.

The basic principle of this style was very simple: menswear had to be designed on the body of a real man, eliminating impractical folds, bizarre tails and useless decorations, and opting for a sober style that emphasised the shoulders while perfectly balancing the rest of the figure.

To create this new style Prandoni studied human anatomy and changed the cutting patterns focusing on the body and its movements. He highlighted the waistline and the hips and placed the armhole in a higher position to allow men to move freely and comfortably.

Prandoni’s intuitions made him famous: soon the shop relocated to Contrada Santa Margherita and famous men - from King Vittorio Emanuele II to ministers, aristocrats, artists and entrepreneurs - went to visit the shop and ordered the brand new suits in “Milanese style”.

After Prandoni died one of his students, Giovan Battista Rosti continued his work in the same shop. Under Rosti the shop prospered producing an astonishing number of suits - 5,000 - every year.

Many of the tailors who became famous between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the century were Prandoni's students. Among the most famous tailors of this period of time there were brothers Giuseppe and Gerolamo Martinenghi, brothers Alessandro and Enrico Castellini and Angelo Rossetti.

Between 1920 and 1940, a new generation of tailors arrived on the scene, heralded by talents such as Segramora, Carlo Magni, Treccani and Giuseppe Colombo. The latter was born in Borgo Ticino from a peasant family. Permanently disabled by an accident he had as a young boy, he started working for a tailor based in the village where he was born before moving to Milan.

Colombo was a self-taught tailor with a very personal method: he often needed countless fittings to do one suit and used them to slowly and carefully “build up” his suit as if it were a work of art (apparently he once put through 74 fittings a Cremona-based lawyer who had ordered a suit from him...) and was famous for taking 29 different measurements for making a suit. Uneducated but very clever and skilled, Colombo mainly used his instincts in his work. 

Cesare Tosi became also popular: an admirer of Giuliano Prandoni's art, Tosi had a perfect cut and updated the Milanese style turning it into the elegant "Tosi style". Painter Mario Sironi, who designed the logo for Tosi's tailoring house, dubbed him the "architetto umano" (the architect of the human body) to highlight the fact that Tosi was so precise in his cut that he almost created buildings in which a man's body could live.  

In the 50s many tailors moved from the Southern regions such as Calabria, Puglia and Sicily and as they arrived in Milan they influenced the local style. The numbers of tailors and tailoring shops increased: in the early 60s there were at least 2,000 tailoring houses in Milan, but only 100 produced suits in the genuine Milanese style. The best tailoring houses were Prandoni, Giovanni Cattaneo, Arnaldo Castellini, Giovanni Belloli, Celeste Carrara and Giorcelli.
 
Famous for having designed entire wardrobes for Giacomo Puccini, Arturo Toscanini, Guglielmo Marconi and Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Prandoni tailoring house remained the most important one until it closed down in the early 60s.

Like Giovanni Cattaneo and Arnaldo Castellini, Giovanni Belloli was a firm supporter of the Milanese style and cautiously balanced new trends with the more classic designs, while Carrara preserved the principles of the Milanese style but applied to his suits a softer and lighter design.

Giorcelli opened instead his tailoring house at the end of the 50s, after working for around 30 years at Prandoni’s and became one of the most famous Milanese tailors.

Giorcelli won an important battle in his life: he managed to combine the original Milanese style with new trends and with the needs of modern men and while keeping on focusing on the importance of the shoulders and perfectly balancing every part of a suit, Giorcelli added a touch of functionality to the Milanese style.   

Milan produced also tailors who completely revolutionised the Milanese style such as Camozzi and Mario Donini, who opted for softer and more comfortable lines. But the list of Milan-based tailors could go on, including Angelo Merlini and Tosi's admirers Gino Lizzola and Giuseppe Colavito. 

The immensely beautiful and severe Milanese style continued to be popular throughout the decades, but as Milan transformed into a fashion capital, many tailoring houses closed down. A very final mention goes to the Caraceni family who updated the Milanese style in more recent years while managing to stay open. But I will write about their work in a future post about the Abruzzese tailoring school. 

There might be a lot of designers and very few tailors nowadays in Milan, but every time I see a well-cut suit à la Armani, I can't stop thinking about the Milanese tailoring traditions and the early work of great tailors such as Giuliano Prandoni.

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Inauguration Day trends

I know it sounds rather silly and superficial to be writing about fashion trends spotted at the Inauguration Day rather than about the message we got at the end of it, but that’s what I feel like doing today. Most of the fashion blogs and lifestyle pages of the main newspapers have given a lot of space to Michelle Obama between yesterday afternoon and today, but I still want to add my comments.

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the First Lady of the United States in her yellow outfit was Vanessa Friedman's column published on the Financial Times the weekend before Christmas. Entitled "The future's yellow", the piece moved from Pantone's 2009 colour, mimosa, and explored the concepts of "hope and reassurance" attached to this shade. Friedman wondered in her piece if and how yellow could genuinely represent optimism and also pondered about what colour Michelle Obama would have chosen for her Inauguration Day dress, dismissing yellow as an unlikely option. Yet the much-awaited outfit was in fact yellow, though it was a wonderful shade of yellow, lemongrass.

The shift dress and its matching coat in guipure lace with white satin lining designed by Isabel Toledo looked at times creamy, at times gold with occasional green nuances. The choice of Toledo made me immensely happy: first Michelle Obama did not opt for a mainstream designer produced abroad, but for a Cuban-born American designer known in selected circles for the singularity of her style; second Toledo is a very talented designer who can combine haute couture influences with her Latin roots and traditions and knows how to use quirky patterns and fabrics with a chic sense of style.   

Mrs Obama matched the dress with Jimmy Choo’s deep green 'Glacier' pumps and a pair of olive green gloves. Purists and fans of the total look might have been cringing, but I absolutely loved the fact that there was so much colour and such a great contrast at such a formal event. It really felt like this choice truly marked the arrival of a new era and proved Mrs Obama is a First Lady who can take risks but who can also cleverly balance different looks.

At the Inaugural Night celebrations, Michelle turned indeed into a beautifully glamorous and sexy woman wearing an ivory one-shouldered full-length silk chiffon gown by young Taiwanese but US-based designer Jason Wu. The gown featured a cascade of appliquéd silk flowers and crystals and the First Lady matched it with jewellery by Loree Rodkin, well known among Hollywood stars for her unconventional approach to jewellery design. 
 
The First Lady's focus on new designers - introduced to her through the Chicago-based boutique Ikram - makes me hope in some very interesting and exciting fashion moments during Obama's presidency.

I feel compelled to add a few final words on a look that absolutely stole my heart: Aretha Franklin’s. The "godmother of soul" truly proved she is also the queen of the hat revival this year as she was the first celebrity I saw since 2009 started wearing a rather whimsical hat in an extraordinary way. The felt hat featuring an oversized Swarovski-studded bow was designed by Detroit-based Luke Song Millinery. Mixing warm and cool greys, extravagant Aretha also pulled off the all grey look wonderfully.  

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