Versace Runway Show | Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012

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Neil Barrett Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Tim Blanks review

Coming from a long line of naval tailors, Neil Barrett has the cut in his blood. There is always a military precision in the way he creates new hybrids from his influences. This season, for instance, he blended army fatigues, biker leathers, and the natty houndstooths and herringbones of the 2 Tone ska revival. Then he shrunk and cropped the whole lot to Barrett's signature proportions and sat it on top of chunky cyber-bovver sandals. Some of the combinations looked completely natural, like the tan trench or wool blazer hybridized with a motocross jacket, or the biker vest with the army green cotton back. They were the most convincing. Other pairings were less so. True, within the mandate of the collection, a leather-patched aviator jacket over houndstooth shorts was logical enough. Likewise, the herringbone blouson with the cropped pants.

But at some point, Barrett's signature has become a formula. It may have made him the go-to guy for composite iterations of Youth Cults We Have Known and Loved, but it's boxed him into a corner. Oddly enough, as his hybrids whizzed past to one of his typically fabulous soundtracks (always among Milan's best), the thought occurred that help may be at hand in the form of Barrett's genetic legacy. Gallingly conventional though it would probably seem to him, a purely sartorial collection—minus the crop and the shrink—would highlight his skill, his taste, and his instinct for what makes a man look hot. Or cool. Or maybe just good.

source:Style.com/

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Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Tim Blanks review

Anyone who still imagines fashion remains willfully oblivious to current events would probably be surprised to learn that Tomas Maier was inspired by 2011's Arab Spring, when he conceived the latest men's collection for Bottega Veneta. The Arab world's pursuit of democracy got him thinking about the integration of different sartorial traditions in a way that was about genuine synthesis, rather than banal ethnic influences. By the time they reached the catwalk, Maier's creative impulses had been well and truly sublimated. A casual overview might suggest that relatively conventional two-piece tailoring ruled (even if the suits were crumpled). Still, a residue of the Great Elsewhere lingered in the unplaceability of a number of the clothes, neither Middle East nor Midwest, but with an undertow of both. The buttoned-up-tight mandarin-collared jackets and matching pants had a military mien—add sunglasses, a general's cap, and a hundred kilos, and you'd have yourself a best-dressed dictator. That control was contrasted with a shopping list of fabric treatments: washing, creasing, over-printing, over-dyeing, dip-dyeing. Checks were bleared like they'd been hand-blocked. A tweed was really a printed cotton. Just a fashion illusion, but here it poked as much as it pleased.

Maier never really lets go. Even the peculiar denim and leather breakout he allowed himself today was pinpoint-precise. Will BV men be thinking of the Arab Spring when they're shopping this time next year? Unlikely. But Maier's abstract inspiration actually did yield a hint of out of control that his customers may find refreshing come Spring 2012.

source:Style.com/

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Prada Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Miuccia Prada looks to the game of golf for a youthful spring outing. Capturing the eye with bold retro prints and stud adornments, Prada once again creates a world that is wholly her own. Outside floral prints and the ample clutch, relaxed checked suits provide the necessary grounding to a season of editorial-ready pieces, ranging from fantastic shoes and cropped jackets to great hat accessories.

source:TheFashionisto

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