Pret-a-porter in Paris and Milan

fashion shows

Fashion designers insist that next summer a fashionable man should remain in a jacket and tie, but his trousers should be cut to the knee. MARINA Kommersant-Prokhorova attended the Milan and Paris pret-a-porter shows "spring-summer-2006".

Summer Milano Moda Uomo and Paris Pret-a-porter Homme are traditionally the least pretentious - they are distinguished by their work environment. There is generally less excitement around men's shows - there are fewer invited celebrities, and fewer paparazzi hunting for them, and fewer fashion fans and stars dreaming of touching the great. In addition, dramatic stylistic changes usually happen in winter collections, while in summer everything simply becomes lighter and more frivolous.

The Milan week began with intrigue. In 2004, Jill Sander left the brand of her name for the second time due to insurmountable disagreements with the Prada Group (see Kommersant on November 18, 2004) - the chief designer of Jil Sander was the very worthy Belgian designer Raf Simons, but he managed to have a hand in the collection only at the last moment. Nevertheless, the general character of the week was immediately set: the Jil Sander collection was beautiful, young, a little in college style, with narrow cropped trousers, vests, colorful shirts, and short lightweight jackets.

By the evening, at the Burberry Prorsum show, critics had confirmed their opinion. Next summer, men's clothing will be designed in the spirit of the 60s. Beautiful clothes in fresh but restrained colors, designed for very young boys - but just boys, without signs of androgyny. Lots of colorful shirts and thin knitted vests. Ties and scarves are strongly encouraged. There are many sports and colonial summer jackets - with patch pockets, flaps, set-in belts, and shoulder straps. The trousers are short, revealing the ankles, and very narrow. An alternative to these trousers is shorts, city ones, cut like trousers that are just below the knee, or short beach ones.

Moreover, next summer the main thing in men's clothing will be a narrow, close-fitting silhouette; neither shirts nor trousers fit the body too tightly. The colors are light, restrained - all shades of gray, white and beige, blue and dusty pink. Floral prints on shirts and knitwear will slowly give way to small tie patterns. Lots of Prince of Wales check and light cotton fabrics with crinkled stripes. There is no special romanticism in such clothes. But she is very practical. Everything is reserved, everything is livable. In the spring-summer 2006 season, the main trend proposed by designers is to wear something that suits many people and therefore will be bought by many.

And so fashion week went. On the one hand, men's clothing next summer promises to be equally beautiful for everyone. On the other hand, the trend overshadowed the stylistic features of each individual brand and critics began to realize that they had not gone crazy and were not replaying what they had already seen in their heads by the middle of the fashion show. Despite the general homogeneity of the collections, their differences lay in the details, the general mood, and simply whether the clothes were beautiful or boring.

For Prada and Miu-Miu, Miuccia Prada made gray, rather narrow suits and raincoats, colored shirts and a lot of very thin knitwear. Everything is very simple and modest with a clear anti-luxury message. Such rigor and the absence of usual expressive images should be taken with attention: Miuccia Prada usually senses the main trends very subtly and strongly in advance and shapes them.

Even the Gianfranco Ferre collection was less theatrical than usual: the signature sculptural cut was king, but the color scheme was surprisingly restrained, with minimal splashes of color. For the evening - crinkled jackets in a complex green color. Essential clothing for the brand with clear signs of luxury includes snow-white jackets made of alligator and ostrich skin. The Etro collection was more modest in color than usual: there were almost more white suits than checkered and striped ones.

Dolce & Gabbana men remain the same. The main advantage of the brand is its excellent cut. And this is very important, since trousers and jackets are clearly becoming the main clothes. Nevertheless, the temperament of designers is not tamed by any trends. Low-slung jeans with brightly colored panties sticking out from under them, colored shirts and T-shirts will be able to console fans of brightly colored clothing next summer.

The collection, made for Gucci by John Ray, is aimed at a more mature audience. The knitwear was very clearly reminiscent of the work of Giorgio Armani, but then everything fell into place - loose trousers, moderately fitted sports jackets, a magnificent line of tuxedos and tailcoats. It’s completely different from what we were used to in the days of Tom Ford, and at the same time very worthy.

The Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani collections themselves turned out to be very useful this season. The collections were smaller than usual and resembled a “the best of” collection. Simple loose trousers that once made the brand famous, jackets with a narrow waist and flared hems, sandals and satin evening shoes with completely flat soles are also designed for adult men.

Paris traditionally has more diversity. But here, too, many collections were made in a very gentlemanly way - beautiful fabrics, comfortable cuts and a deliberately modest, discreet result. The Hermès collection featured lots of tasty but dusty shades of pink, green and cream, and the cut was very soft. The Louis Vuitton collection used more vibrant hues of ocher and red wine, and jackets, trousers and shorts were cut more tightly. But in both cases, discreet clothing was shown in order to live in it, and not to show off.

Even Kenzo had practically no color. The brand's collection was inspired by the 30s of the last century. The best part is the baggy trousers, which have an almost high waistline and are cinched in the back with a buckled strap. The rest consists of striped jackets, French jackets, elongated knitwear, belts and patch pockets.

Naoki Takizawa followed the general direction in his collection for Issey Miyake. But it was very beautiful. Jackets with strange scarred seams, paint on the seams, good silhouettes. The personal taste and talent of the designer are good within any trend, although they can interfere with commercial success.

Yohji Yamamoto was not interested in either English college or English tennis. His collection, with trousers tucked into knee socks, baggy knits and loose jackets, was dedicated to American baseball. Well, and at the same time more spacious than clothes in a gentleman's spirit.

The Paris week was closed by the Dior Homme show. This is where Mick Jagger appeared, to whom the Commes des Garsons collection shown two days earlier was dedicated - brand designer Rei Kawakubo used the famous drawing of Mr. Jagger’s protruding tongue as a print on T-shirts. At Dior, emaciated boys of different ages quickly and loosely carried through the hall incredibly skinny clothes reminiscent of the androgynous rock stars of the very early 70s. The trousers are incredibly tight. The sleeves of T-shirts and dress shirts seem to have been roughly torn off, so that the shirts have come apart at the side seams. A very bright alternative to tailcoats, spencer jackets barely reached the waist at the back, but in the front they dangled with rounded “tails.” And in general, everything was spectacular, clear, beyond the cautious trends of the season - Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane remained true to his personal values.

Fashionable knee-length trousers