Milan fashion week: designers focus on elegance after the crisis!
A few days ago, from June the 20th to June the 23rd, Milan hosted one of the most eagerly awaited fashion events of the season: Milan fashion week (this year lasting just four days instead of five, as mentioned in our previous article), where all the top Italian fashion houses and many foreign ones presented their men’s spring-summer 2010 collections.
This world-renowned fashion event was attended by many reporters and fashion journalists and their comments on the quality and design of the styles proposed have been generally positive, considering that the effects of the economic crisis are still being felt and there are not yet sufficient funds to invest in the extravagant and extraordinary. However, according to the first media reports, it seems that the concept of elegance has been the focal point of most of the collections, an elegance which embraces comfort, both during the day and night.
The man of next spring-summer 2010 will be very refined, gorgeous and charming but also extremely practical and confident in any situation. He is always ready for anything, like the man dressed by Dolce & Gabbana, who wears sumptuous silk pajamas under his faded and torn jeans, cowboy style.
These collections are characterized by attention to detail, and by the carefully selected fabrics used to assure the new man freshness, elegance and comfort next summer. Clothing is created using modern takes on natural fibers such as hemp and rubber, as well as “cool effect” wool, which can keep the body at least ten degrees cooler. Fabrics employed for the classic men’s suit are very shiny, sometimes even glittering, such as the luxury jackets proposed by Dolce & Gabbana.
Hats, scarves and foulards will be incredibly trendy next spring-summer 2010 but the Must Have in the matter of accessories remains the men’s bag. Yes, next spring-summer the fashionable man won’t go out without his tote bag, held by the handles or worn on the arm. Made of simple natural leather or of luxury skin such as crocodile, the handbag is indispensable to the trendy man’s wardrobe, next to his skin tight shirts, his jeans, his classic trousers (both knee-length and ankle length) and his leather jackets. Elegant suits are often comprised of jacket and bermuda shorts instead of the classic long trousers, while shoes, especially moccasins are always worn without socks! It’s summer time and feet need to breathe freely!
What about the colors?
Colors completing the men’s look of next spring-summer 2010 will be fundamentally classic and quite sober, even though contrasts between different tonalities are the key notes of many fashion collections. Looking at the styles proposed by the fashion house Bottega Veneta, we see its models walking down the catwalk wearing red trousers with a fuchsia T-Shirt or a coral red pair of trousers worn with a pink shirt.
However the main colors of next spring-summer 2010 men’s collection are dark blue, black and grey in all its many shades, from the classic dark grey to light grey. Designers use these tonalities both for the evening look (as you know, these colors are all symbols of elegance and luxury) or for everyday wear using them with more casual styles. Pinstripes are very fashionable especially in grey. Besides these “classic tones”, we also find more typical “summer colors” such as snow white which, after a period in the wings, seems to be centre stage once more next summer 2010, as well as orange, fuchsia, olive green, beige and brown. A special role will be played next year by two bright colors: shocking red and electric blue which have been particularly used by our Italian designers in these latest collections as an antidote to the precariousness of the current economic situation. Shoes are red or blue, accessories are red or blue and there are also some designers who focus most of their collections on these two colors. Shaded tonalities such as pink or light blue will continue to be incredibly trendy next year too, above all among the young generations wearing a more casual look.
