Prada Mens F/W 2008.09 Milan

[mkd1187]

so.. whatever. skirts on men have been done before. Gaultier, Slimane, etc. those didnt make me want to wear it, but at least they incorporated it nicely into a menswear collection. I usually love Prada, but this season Miuccia has basically put together a boring initial collection, and thrown on a few pseudo-avante-guard styling skirt whatevers that some people claim to be original.

 

[gius]

^Looking at a few of the other collections
maybe it's not about being original
rather it's coming out of your comfort zone

like those giant rug-like coats at D&G
the nude colour tight sweaters Prada
round shoulder, curved waist trenches Jil Sander

everybody seems to be making something that wouldn't be considered wearable...

although i feel it's still really desirable
i mean i myself would LOVE one of those big coats at D&G
but i would probably just wear it at home in the comfort of my cold home

 

[Forwardmotionis]

This is like when you ask a 2 year old to dress them self in a room with no light. hmmmm

 

[BerlinRocks]

January 13, 2008
Miuccia Prada's passion for the work of Yves Saint Laurent is the stuff of legend: In her student days, as secretary of the Communist party in Milan, she'd lead protest matches in vintage YSL. Saint Laurent's clothes for Catherine Deneuve in 1967's Belle de Jour struck a particularly personal chord, as they captured both Deneuve's bourgeois hauteur and the current of transgression that ran beneath it. So it was easy to see Miuccia's latest men's collection as a kind of Beau du Jour for the way that it pushed sobriety into the realm of fetish.

The theme was duality from the first outfit: a charcoal suit, sober enough, but its jacket was wrapped in an almost feminine way. And it was worn with a shirt that had two collars, one quite clerical. (The shoes also had a two-tone effect, and the swell of celestial voices in David Motion's "Buoyancy" on the soundtrack underscored the twisted religiosity.) The bi-collar was a foretaste of what can only be described as a male bikini,[] which combined a bib front with what appeared to be a visible jockstrap (or maybe male garter belt?) and closed at the back like a waistcoat (or bra). Wags instantly dubbed the look "wedgie chic," but it was more disturbing than that—as if traditional concepts of masculinity had been turned inside out. Of course, this is something Miuccia's talked about for years, but it was still striking to see it rendered so graphically. Even more so when a couple of back-buttoning blouses walked past—male vulnerability wrapped up in a shirt.

That notion was amplified through flesh-toned knits that gave the impression of nudity, or traditional male garb reduced to fragments—a collar and cuffs, for instance. Something about this hinted at Helmut Newton's classic photos of Saint Laurent's collections in the seventies. In other words, a typically provocative Miuccia exercise. And, boy-kini aside, the shimmery shirts, silvery shoes, and suits with a tonic gleam will be near the top of Fall 2008's wish list.
— Tim Blanks

that's funny how he doesn't even bother talking about the micro-skirts....

ok so after saying all the s*** i could about this collection and gave a judgement upon a few previews....
i can say this collection is anything but exciting....

i'm sorry but where's the revolution there?????? People talked about it onto here.... (funny to see most of these are women....)
make men be incofortable in their outfits????
the crotch is simply impossible.... this will make men look horrible.... the zipper on the side.... the shirts (that are very good, though) will also be very bad on a man!!!
- Heu Georges, you could at least iron your shirt before coming!!!
- Oh no don't worry it's just Prada and the buttons are on the back so Miuccia Prada thought elastic bondage would be better that's why it makes such creases....

are the jackets 1 or 2 or 3 buttons????
Everything in the inside is shown on the outside and things we normaly see on a man look (collar, cuffs) are made independent.... as Tim Blanks, smartly underlined....
which is interesting for styling....

the micro-skirts are not even that much present in the collection...
so to me, this is only an access. for styling they did on last minute....

and yes the styling is, imo, pretty intelligent on some points...
but I still hate boots worn on pants for men.... and I even think it's dead, now.... so imagine with a tuxedo.....
but that is just for the catwalk....

so even if we want to see innovative things in this collection......
may I ask something???
Why the innovative is only available for skinny people???????
isn't it a bit discrimination???? because I swear if you have 3kg en trop the shirts won't look good on a 'normal' or 'fat' man....
Miuccia wants a man that doesn't exist yet......

so if you take the outfit one by one.... everything is wearable... EXCEPT the mini-skirts (for crossdresser ok.... for non-crossdresser, it won't work at all!) and these pants!!!!
I'll have to wait and see those pants into editorials and shops....

but the general meaning'/feeling/message is not nice nor it is revolutionnary.......
Tim Blanks evoks YSL..... If i were him, I would write about the woman tuxedo that must have been a real taboo back in the time, as is this collection now....
but YSL tuxedo made a statement in the Fashion History....
I'm not really sure this collection by Miuccia would make a statement.....

so I wish she'll keep this idea in mind and develop it in a next collection....
this collection needs a development.... an evolution.... in a next collection....

 

[ysljunkie]

BerinRocks
I’m glad to see you dedication to examining this collection. In my blog I said that I had no idea where the idea for this collection came from-last person I thought it be was my beloved YSL. No matter what Tim Blanks says I still think this was a hit and miss and there aren’t going to be to many men who will wear the mini skirt out on the streets plain and simple. But if her point was to push the envelope, okay she did that at least.

 

[TheR]

nothing for me here lol.

 

[KindlyCuddly]

I look at this collection and I see social and gender commentary, not just a contrived effort at bending the norm. Maybe it's just me. Anyone looking for "revolution" is seriously misguided, as is anyone who thinks Miuccia seriously added the femininity with the idea that men would fall all over it. Get real.

 

[C_24]

Gosh, someone please check Miuccia into rehab- it worked miracles for Donatella!

 

[ilaughead]

I'll sleep on this before commenting. It's too hideous to think about before bed.

 

[Bidwell]

Perhaps some are not seeing the forest for the trees.

If one focuses on the incredible fabric research that is evident even in a small picture, the Russian constructivist approach in color blocking, primary colors juxtaposing components of attire, and the embracing of technology (as in the laser croc), the tiny tricks of the bib and tutu can surely be forgiven. If these were pleated (as in punk bum flaps) instead of gathered they would hardly garner a comment...

The construcivists also played with alternative clothing options at the time like boiler suits and pajama like dressing. Prada is simply sticking to tradition and sticking to her (albeit wayward) communist roots.

Perhaps it needs to be relabelled PRAVDA.

 

[Zazie]

It's true there are amazing details and textures here - many of us have commented on that, but then WHY do the tutus and panties??? Surely she would have known the derision this will bring, at the expense of the rest of the positive aspects. So she is doing this intentionally (well, no one puts a tutu on a man "accidentally") - it's either a publicity stunt or she's really out of her mind. Either possibility is equally unpalatable. And no, YSL would NEVER attempt something so ridiculous and godawful, his is an aesthetic androgynous, dark, sexy, elegantly smouldering, done with humour and wit, not little tutus any girl over the age of 5 would be embarassed to be seen in, not to mention grown men. Show me an old YSL men's collection with tutus and I'll eat my silk organza hat. Even the most hideous stuff Bernherd Wilhelm sends down the runway evokes some respect with its strange beauty. Most importantly, BW has always been sincere. I'd been open-minded about Prada in the past, even loving the techno Big-Bird fur, but this time it feels like mockery, not the intelligent kind, just crude. I guess I've had enough of this stupid stunt.

 

[vanwood]

I really like the ideas here, a lot of it is completely unwearable, but surely ideas are what count on the runway otherwise we are just talking apparel no?

 

[KindlyCuddly]

It's true there are amazing details and textures here - many of us have commented on that, but then WHY do the tutus and panties??? Surely she would have known the derision this will bring, at the expense of the rest of the positive aspects. So she is doing this intentionally (well, no one puts a tutu on a man "accidentally") - it's either a publicity stunt or she's really out of her mind. Either possibility is equally unpalatable. And no, YSL would NEVER attempt something so ridiculous and godawful, his is an aesthetic androgynous, dark, sexy, elegantly smouldering, done with humour and wit, not little tutus any girl over the age of 5 would be embarassed to be seen in, not to mention grown men. Show me an old YSL men's collection with tutus and I'll eat my silk organza hat. Even the most hideous stuff Bernherd Wilhelm sends down the runway evokes some respect with its strange beauty. Most importantly, BW has always been sincere. I'd been open-minded about Prada in the past, even loving the techno Big-Bird fur, but this time it feels like mockery, not the intelligent kind, just crude. I guess I've had enough of this stupid stunt.

Why would Miuccia Prada EVER have to resort to publicity stunts? Look beyond the damn tutus and ask yourself why she might include those feminine elements in the collection? Look at the way in which the tutus and halter garments are utilized...I find them loaded with social context and I believe she's making a statement on modern gender polarization. Not everything in fashion boils down to purely aesthetics...there is relevance behind even a damn tutu that transcends notions of appropriateness....not like most people will wear anything that's coming down that runway, ignoring the tutus. That is my interpretation. If she was trying to churn out something simply pleasing to the eye she could have followed any of the bland formulas other menswear designers have been doing for years, which would have been boring as all hell. Fashion isn't just about filling your closet with pretty, wearable garments...there are political and social implications in design as well.

 

[YEYOUSUOMENG]

Prada is surprising me again

 

[Zsquared]

never liked prada... seems like i never will, either!

 

[redscarf]

Lighten up, it's just faaaaaaashion!

 

[Zazie]

Why would Miuccia Prada EVER have to resort to publicity stunts? Look beyond the damn tutus and ask yourself why she might include those feminine elements in the collection? Look at the way in which the tutus and halter garments are utilized...I find them loaded with social context and I believe she's making a statement on modern gender polarization. Not everything in fashion boils down to purely aesthetics...there is relevance behind even a damn tutu that transcends notions of appropriateness....not like most people will wear anything that's coming down that runway, ignoring the tutus. That is my interpretation. If she was trying to churn out something simply pleasing to the eye she could have followed any of the bland formulas other menswear designers have been doing for years, which would have been boring as all hell. Fashion isn't just about filling your closet with pretty, wearable garments...there are political and social implications in design as well.

Ok, tutus and mankinis = ???? First of all, if any of this has lately been a fringe-culture phenomenon worthy of note, then it might be interesting, you know, a lot of club kids suddenly sporting tutus. Did any of us mention "pretty clothes" even? Well, the tutus are pretty enough. I mean, I can send female models down the runway in jock-straps with visible phalluses sticking out or something, is that gender polarization??? Owowee, what a brainwave that is, pure genius, now I'm Derrida!

Feel free to think of a thousand of other "inappropriate" things that are actually, um, "deep", - how about tis one, animal tails stuck on models' arses for "species polarization". Not your commercial fashion show for sure!

 

[BerlinRocks]

Fashion isn't just about filling your closet with pretty, wearable garments...there are political and social implications in design as well.

ok... and as some people already said this, I quote making a statement on modern gender polarization, has already been done before.....
a long time before......
edited : made a mistake.... i just checked....
and Hedi Slimane thought about the androginy, too.... - as a lot of his customers were women.... this is a statement!

so please tell us what is bringing Miuccia with this collection that is sooo new - if we set aside the aesthetic?????

 

[gr77]

I don't mind androginy at all , I do mind ugliness however.This show is full of the latter

 

[cake_batter]

i personally can't wait to get my hands on the tight nude sweaters