To bling, or not to bling...
Article from FT.com By Peter Howarth Published: February 4 2006
Article from FT.com By Peter Howarth Published: February 4 2006
After two weeks of European fashion shows in Milan and Paris, a single question seemed to lie at the heartof modern men's wear: how far do you go?
On the one hand, designers like Swede Johan Lindeberg are acknowledging that men like their clothing simple, unfussy and inconspicuous (camel wool coat, nylon rain coat, slim suit, round-neck white T-shirt), while at the other end of the scale we have Roberto Cavalli blinging it to the max with piles of Ferrero Rocher golden balls for his audience, and Mrs Golden Balls herself, Victoria Beckham, closing the show.
But the extent to which you turn up the fashion volume is a matter of economics, too. Make the look too outrageous and you limit your market (see Versace's recent decision to produce tailoring for city-types as well as its signature printed silk shirts). Too quiet and those designer price tags start to pse the question: "Why pay so much for something so ordinary?"
In Milan and Paris, many designers seemed to be wrestling with these issues in their offerings for autumn/winter 2006. Take Dolce & Gabbana, whose show invite came on purple velvet and featured a gold crown with the slogan "New Power". No, not an attempt to get fashion hacks to switch to an Italian energy supplier, but a reference, according to Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, to a new type of masculine confidence, where man is a kind of "emperor".
This translates into a look much less flashy than that of the 80s and 90s, said Gabbana, pointing out D&G's new military style of jacket, subtle and dark on the outside, but featuring detail on the inside (pockets galore for your iPod, phone etc). And yet, Dolce and Gabbana also know that people expect them to startle. So another section had regimental jackets in red and green with brocade, outfits that would suit a glamorous party rather than a stroll to the newsagent.
And then, to complicate matters further, at their party in a former cinema, complete with mirror balls, flowing Dom Perignon, gold cushions, pole dancers and a fall of fake snow, Dolce and Gabbana seemed to declare themselves Italy's new fashion emperors, with a display of last-days-of-Rome decadence not seen since the excesses of Studio 54.
Throughout the week in Milan, the to-bling-or-not-to-bling debate raged. At Fendi, designer Silvia Fendi addressed the issue by using what she described as "poor" fabrics in a luxury context - a utilitarian felt pea coat, humble sheepskin with a comb-over treatment that made it look like fur. But however much the luxury firm tried to appeal to populist sensibilities, the fact remains that the combination of lamé gauze shirts, ribbed corduroy-effect leather, knee-high polished brown boots and riding trousers is simply not everyday.
Meanwhile, at Miu Miu, Muccia Prada paid tribute to a Tyrolean obsession she said she's had since she was a little girl. This manifested itself in epaulettes, green accents, decorative edging on lapels, button-up flap breast pockets - in other words, the details that lifted an otherwise simple collection into the luxury category. Her explanation? Men's wear is so preciseyou have relatively little to play with.
At Etro, Kean Etro made his statement by incorporating colour and pattern into his garments: a Prince of Wales check suit or coat featuring a windowpane check in a bold colour, and shirts with contrast-patterned collars and cuffs.
Similarly, at Giorgio Armani, an exceptionally wear-able collection starred a luxurious, lustrous fabric: velvet. Using its drape and sheen through most of the collection, Armani played a clever game, hitching his designer status to a cloth and his trademark body-defining cut, rather than to any overt shows of excess.
Actor Clive Owen was in the audience, as was Peter Mandelson, the European Union's trade commissioner, over in Italy to discuss the threat to Italian footwear from the Chinese. It was his first ever fashion show, and he confessed to being surprised by how wearable the clothes were. But would he wear them? "If I could afford it I would wear most of what I saw," he said.
By the time Paris rolled around, the blingometer appeared to have swung firmly away from the upper end of the scale, with designers generally showing wear-able collections distinguished by quality fabrics and idiosyncratic detail, rather than fireworks. A case in point was Paul Smith who, in a move that would have pleased Mandelson, decided to pay homage to the special relationship by referencing the frontiersmen of the Wild West.
Smith's cowboys sported embroidered shirts and waist-coats, wide bootlace ties and decorative belts, but the end result was what we have come to expect from the man: though the detail may have been inspired by the US, it simply punctuated wearable British tailoring.
More surprising was the restraint shown at Dior Homme. Whereas in seasons past designer Hedi Slimane has often shown a penchant for the punky and grungy, this time he riffed on classic eveningwear, giving it an insouciant rock 'n' roll attitude through his signature slim cut. He also introduced big baggy trousers, which will certainly be more forgiving to most men than the pipe-cleaner.
At Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati played with tweeds, country checks and wide-notch lapels, waisted jackets and easy flowing trousers. There was a touch of Gatsbyesque easy glamour but nothing too flashy - real moneyed dressing doesn't need to shout, and the point here was to show elegantself-assured styling based on classic fabrics.
Marc Jacobs' collection for Louis Vuitton also eschewed bells and whistles: built around outerwear - duffels, blousons, parkas, overcoats - in nylon and fake fur, Jacobs' presentation offered up modern urbanites protected from the elements by their fashionable layers.
In fact, the Louis Vuitton collection exemplified a trend in Paris that sees outerwear playing a more important role in the male winter wardrobe. Significantly, it was often rendered in a way that spoke of practicality rather than of big bucks.
Back in Milan, this development was something presaged at Burberry Prorsum. Burberry's designer, Christopher Bailey, is a fan of the firm's archive, and it looked as if he'd been inspired in part by the company's historical roots as outfitters to explorers (Amundsen and Shackleton) and early aviators. He kitted his modelsout in bobble hats, duffel coats, big herringbone overcoats and the kind ofcountry-performance clothes that they used to wearwhen dressing for an attempt on Everest meant littlemore than hobnail bootsand tweeds.
As Bailey's muse, model Stella Tennant told me: "These fabrics, that's how it always was - they were super-practical for getting you to the South Pole and they were great back home at the weekend."
True, but you could also say that by introducing a performance element into the Burberry repertoire, Bailey was moving the brand away from status clothing towards modish functionality.
and the more conspicuous, the better
