Displaying items by tag: Milan

Fashion is pretending everything will be alright. And it will be, eventually.

We’ve just finished the latest round of women’s fashion weeks. What would, usually, have been a month of hundreds of shows stretched between the US and Europe, was a skeleton of former schedules with international fashion councils trying to cobble together something that resembled normality and hoping by the time these clothes hit the stores they’ll be some light at the end of the COVID tunnel. Even before COVID, the traditional idea of fashion weeks and shows was being questioned yet fashion weeks seemed to continue to grow exponentially, becoming a bloated calendar of designer egos. They rarely paid their way.

Left - An underwhelming Louis Vuitton womenswear SS21 collection

What this latest round of SS21 shows did was put a spotlight on the product. Without the fashion circus; the celebs on the front row, hundreds of people pushing and hustling for a ticket, and the subsequent social media onslaught and hype, the clothes and accessorises were the main focus. Replaced by fewer brands, a socially distanced frow, if any, and, a hoped for digital audience tuning in, the product had a chance to shine. It didn’t.

A hard-to-believe audience of 5 million was supposed to have watched the much panned Nicolas Ghesquière collection for Louis Vuitton womenswear telling consumers to ‘Vote”. Seeing inside the soon-to-be-unveiled Samaritaine department store was the highlight.

Other mega brands, such as Chanel and Dior, produced critically underwhelming collections. Some brands tried to think differently though. For example, Moschino hired the Jim Henson studio to make puppets dressed in its collection and a complementary characterful front frow. While the concept was great, the clothes weren’t memorable.

It’s not so much that this season was particularly better or worse than previous seasons, it is more the fact the clothes had less distractions to hide behind. For years, fashion brands have flown everybody - press, buyers - to exotic locations or spent millions on expensive sets and concepts which have all add to the spectacle while helping to disguise the fact that many of the clothes or accessorises weren’t very good. This stripping away of the shows for SS21 has exposed what many have thought for a long time; the majority of product no longer stands up on its own.

This is a broad generalisation and there are still some great ideas in fashion, it’s too big for there not to be, but many brands rely on gimmicks, and, what I call ‘design-by-email’, which tries to squeeze as much as it can from a popular line or style. Brands milk a popular style to death. Rockstuds, anyone?

There has also been this attitude, over the last few years, that ‘brand’ is bigger than any product. As the volume of product grew, so it diluted the ideas, but the ‘brand’ got bigger. It sold, so why question it? Those inside the brands didn’t or don’t seem to be.

But, COVID has made many consumers switch off. It has made many people realise they can live without a lot of this stuff and buying new and expensive stuff was just a perpetual habit they didn’t realise they had.

If nobody can see you wearing or holding it, then what is the point? For many, there isn’t one. Also, without social events, a large proportion of fashion is redundant. Sales follow need and without the need, then want starts to wane and sales dry up. Fashion is going to need fantastic product to re-engage this dormant buying audience. Some of these consumers could be lost forever.

The formulaic fashion cycle of collabs., capsule collections and drops, put a veneer of newness onto tired products and exhausted brands. Brands need to make things that people want to shout about from the roof tops and tell all their friends about.

Quality has also become an issue. People are more likely to shout about inferior quality and poor customer service than good. They are quick to social media when complaining or pointing out issues or problems. Many consumers have started to question their last purchases from these ‘luxury’ companies and the inflated price tags for mediocre workmanship. Can they justify the prices? I wrote this last year Gucci: has it sacrificed its quality in pursuit of the quirky? It is going to have to be really good to get people who don’t feel they need something to buy again.

Right - Moschino showed its SS21 collection on puppets

The luxury brands are also humouring the resale market knowing that a strong resell value makes it easier to sell the original item. It’s becoming like the used car market.

Luxury brands need new IT bags and products. Products that stick and become classics and tropes in their repertoire of styles. For example, Dior has been pushing its Saddle bag over the last couple of years, for both men and women. It is a design with a price tag of £2,500 from over 20 years ago. Where is the new Saddle bag for that house?

Brands have become obsessed with newness, but it’s also made the whole business feel more disposable and it needs the brands to stand behind designs and give consumers the confidence to buy. Gucci has done it with its bag collections. Most have become like the fragrance market; continual launches, usurping previous versions with very few lasting more than a few years.

It doesn’t look like things will be much different come next February and March when the next round of AW21 shows are due. Fashion is reactionary but it also needs to go back to the basics of product. While it’s harder to create classic styles, they can do something about quality.

They’ll still be a physicality to showing fashion, whatever happens, and, while brands are concentrating on stemming their losses atm, post-COVID, it has to be about product, product, product. And it needs to be good.

Buy TheChicGeek's new book FashionWankers - HERE

Fashion is pretending everything will be alright. And it will be, eventually.

We’ve just finished the latest round of women’s fashion weeks. What would, usually, have been a month of hundreds of shows stretched between the US and Europe, was a skeleton of former schedules with international fashion councils trying to cobble together something that resembled normality and hoping by the time these clothes hit the stores they’ll be some light at the end of the COVID tunnel. Even before COVID, the traditional idea of fashion weeks and shows was being questioned yet fashion weeks seemed to continue to grow exponentially, becoming a bloated calendar of designer egos. They rarely paid their way.

Left - An underwhelming Louis Vuitton womenswear SS21 collection

What this latest round of SS21 shows did was put a spotlight on the product. Without the fashion circus; the celebs on the front row, hundreds of people pushing and hustling for a ticket, and the subsequent social media onslaught and hype, the clothes and accessorises were the main focus. Replaced by fewer brands, a socially distanced frow, if any, and, a hoped for digital audience tuning in, the product had a chance to shine. It didn’t.

A hard-to-believe audience of 5 million was supposed to have watched the much panned Nicolas Ghesquière collection for Louis Vuitton womenswear telling consumers to ‘Vote”. Seeing inside the soon-to-be-unveiled Samaritaine department store was the highlight.

Other mega brands, such as Chanel and Dior, produced critically underwhelming collections. Some brands tried to think differently though. For example, Moschino hired the Jim Henson studio to make puppets dressed in its collection and a complementary characterful front frow. While the concept was great, the clothes weren’t memorable.

It’s not so much that this season was particularly better or worse than previous seasons, it is more the fact the clothes had less distractions to hide behind. For years, fashion brands have flown everybody - press, buyers - to exotic locations or spent millions on expensive sets and concepts which have all add to the spectacle while helping to disguise the fact that many of the clothes or accessorises weren’t very good. This stripping away of the shows for SS21 has exposed what many have thought for a long time; the majority of product no longer stands up on its own.

This is a broad generalisation and there are still some great ideas in fashion, it’s too big for there not to be, but many brands rely on gimmicks, and, what I call ‘design-by-email’, which tries to squeeze as much as it can from a popular line or style. Brands milk a popular style to death. Rockstuds, anyone?

There has also been this attitude, over the last few years, that ‘brand’ is bigger than any product. As the volume of product grew, so it diluted the ideas, but the ‘brand’ got bigger. It sold, so why question it? Those inside the brands didn’t or don’t seem to be.

But, COVID has made many consumers switch off. It has made many people realise they can live without a lot of this stuff and buying new and expensive stuff was just a perpetual habit they didn’t realise they had.

If nobody can see you wearing or holding it, then what is the point? For many, there isn’t one. Also, without social events, a large proportion of fashion is redundant. Sales follow need and without the need, then want starts to wane and sales dry up. Fashion is going to need fantastic product to re-engage this dormant buying audience. Some of these consumers could be lost forever.

The formulaic fashion cycle of collabs., capsule collections and drops, put a veneer of newness onto tired products and exhausted brands. Brands need to make things that people want to shout about from the roof tops and tell all their friends about.

Quality has also become an issue. People are more likely to shout about inferior quality and poor customer service than good. They are quick to social media when complaining or pointing out issues or problems. Many consumers have started to question their last purchases from these ‘luxury’ companies and the inflated price tags for mediocre workmanship. Can they justify the prices? I wrote this last year Gucci: has it sacrificed its quality in pursuit of the quirky? It is going to have to be really good to get people who don’t feel they need something to buy again.

Right - Moschino showed its SS21 collection on puppets

The luxury brands are also humouring the resale market knowing that a strong resell value makes it easier to sell the original item. It’s becoming like the used car market.

Luxury brands need new IT bags and products. Products that stick and become classics and tropes in their repertoire of styles. For example, Dior has been pushing its Saddle bag over the last couple of years, for both men and women. It is a design with a price tag of £2,500 from over 20 years ago. Where is the new Saddle bag for that house?

Brands have become obsessed with newness, but it’s also made the whole business feel more disposable and it needs the brands to stand behind designs and give consumers the confidence to buy. Gucci has done it with its bag collections. Most have become like the fragrance market; continual launches, usurping previous versions with very few lasting more than a few years.

It doesn’t look like things will be much different come next February and March when the next round of AW21 shows are due. Fashion is reactionary but it also needs to go back to the basics of product. While it’s harder to create classic styles, they can do something about quality.

They’ll still be a physicality to showing fashion, whatever happens, and, while brands are concentrating on stemming their losses atm, post-COVID, it has to be about product, product, product. And it needs to be good.

Buy TheChicGeek's new book FashionWankers - HERE

September is fashion’s month. Once bulging fashion magazine issues - remember those?! -  the start of fashion’s most important selling season, and, of course, fashion weeks makes September the most important month of the year for the, estimated, global $1.5 trillion fashion industry.

Above - Louis Vuitton's COVID LV Shield hitting stores in October

Fashion week is the canary in the mine and the biggest to suffer from the pandemic. Events which combine travel and vast numbers of people aren’t going to work right now, and, therefore, puts the traditional idea of fashion weeks into a strange predicament. While many fashion councils are trying to push ‘business as usual’, it is far from it.

New York has started, but few would have realised. Designers sitting out New York Fashion Week, this season, include Marc Jacobs - its biggest draw - plus Ralph Lauren, The Row, Pyer Moss, Michael Kors, Telfar, Oscar de la Renta and Brandon Maxwell. Those still taking part can have a socially distanced crowd of just 30 people, while, before, traditional shows ranged into the multiple of 100s. London's fashion week runs from 17th September - Tuesday 22nd September 2020 with the same strict controls.

Fashion weeks is the fashion business in an event and drives focus and attention from outside its bubble to retail and the idea of purchasing something ‘new’ to consumers. They are also extremely old fashioned and had less and less relevance way before COVID 19.

While the majority of fashion shows are pointless, a few images, brands, designers will emerge that stick and steer the fashion industry into that direction for the next six months. It’s also a coming together of people and a temperature test of the industry. But, they have become bloated and drawn out exercises in wasting time and money when fashion can no longer afford either. Limos driving groups of pampered people all over town for 10 mins feels dated and indulgent.

The major of women’s fashion weeks - New York, London, Milan & Paris - managed to scrape through COVID in February and March at the beginning of the year. This will be the first test of how major fashion weeks will run with a global pandemic hanging over it. Some brands, like Louis Vuitton and YSL, have done separate shows over the past few months, but nothing like previous years.

Left - LFW's Digital Schedule home page

This season, the London Fashion Week the schedule has been split into three sections and includes brands showing digitally, physically or both - ‘phygital’. The gender neutral showcase will run from Thursday 17th to Tuesday 22nd September 2020 and include both digital activations on www.londonfashionweek.co.uk and physical events, adhering to government guidelines on social distancing. The schedule will host over 80 designers including 40 womenswear, 15 menswear, 20 menswear & womenswear and 5 accessories brands. There will be a total of 50 digital only activations, 21 physical and digital, 7 physical only and 3 designers who will activate through a physical evening event only. 

The LFW digital platform, launched in June for the men’s calendar, will continue to serve as the Official Digital Hub and will be freely accessible to everyone, industry professionals and global fashion consumers alike. The British Fashion Council says. “LFW is one of the few international events to still be going ahead in London, proving the industry’s resilience, creativity, and innovation in difficult times. Now more than ever, the BFC acknowledges the necessity to look at the future of LFW and the opportunity to drive change, collaborate and innovate in ways that will establish long-term benefits, develop new sustainable business models and boost the industry’s economic and social power. The British Fashion Industry faces enormous challenges due to the impact of COVID-19 and the BFC keeps on calling on Government to support a sector which in 2019 contributed £35 billion to the UK economy and employs over 890,000 people (Oxford Economics, 2020).”

Having a traditional ‘schedule’ for barely 28 shows seems old fashioned. As fashion blogger @bryanboy tweeted to his 502.4K Twitter followers regarding NYFW, this week, “It’s really annoying how designers still get an individual time slot for what essentially is a release for a pre-taped short film. No one cares!! Just do a date and release it on the morning or afternoon of that day and it doesn’t matter if it overlaps with other designers”.

Right - Burberry Horseferry check face mask coming soon

It’s the equivalent of waiting in all day for an e-mail. Nobody has time for this, especially when it feels like most of this stuff won’t be ordered or bought anyway. Maybe just have a single release date, hub for content and publicise that?

The most anticipated London show is Burberry’s. Rumoured to be Riccardo Tisci’s last, it will be held outdoors. Burberry will use Twitch’s ‘Squad Stream' function, which allows users to view multiple perspectives of the show at a time and chat with fellow viewers using the service’s chat window. It will be live-streamed without an audience.

LFW designer Emilio De La Morena is presenting an exhibition rather than a traditional catwalk show. Called ‘Troubles SS’21’, it is an assimilation of fashion, film, and sculpture into a “consolidation of the designers professional and personal journey in conjunction to the global pandemic”.

Fashion’s optimistic hope has been that this pandemic will blow over and we’ll get back to the normal fashion week circus asap. Fashion weeks work in the future and were hoping that by the time the 2021 collections come out this will all feel like a bad dream, but, it’s also realistic to think otherwise. Fashion is fickle, when the pandemic is over any product will instantly feel dated and obsolete. It is difficult to know how much time and money to invest in it.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, saying that not enough COVID-19 vaccines will be available to inoculate the global population until at least the end of 2024. According to Poonawalla, pharmaceutical companies are not increasing production capacity quickly enough to vaccinate everyone faster. “It’s going to take four to five years until everyone gets the vaccine on this planet,” Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, said.

Some brands are incorporating PPE protection into their collections. Louis Vuitton has designed a coronavirus face shield which can also be flipped up and used as a sun visor. The LV Shield will be available to purchase from 30th October 2020 in selected Louis Vuitton stores worldwide for around £700. Burberry face masks are coming soon on the brand’s website, strange they haven't released these faster, and are donating 20% from the selling price of each face mask to the Burberry Foundation COVID-19 Community Fund operated by The Burberry Foundation to support communities impacted by the pandemic globally.

Fashion weeks as an idea is still important, it just needs to reinvent itself for life post-pandemic. Mega brands can still blow millions on a pointless extravaganza, but for smaller designers and brands it can be their slim opportunity to be scouted and brought to attention. It also reaffirms the importance of seeing, feeling and experiencing fashion, but with many influencers shunning fashion week and with the amount of traditional magazine press dwindling, who is it for exactly?

We do need to see. Digital is all a bit unreal. We may as well be dressing avatars. You also have a better memory of items in real, it’s the equivalent of a school trip, they’re fully rounded and you can picture yourself wearing it. But, is it that worth £100,000s to brands? Fashion week is a preview and is also important for brands to know what to make and order. We’ve tried ‘See now, buy now’ and now’s the time for digital presentations. Is the future for fashion weeks somewhere in-between? Or does that just take us back to square one?!

Buy TheChicGeek's new book FashionWankers - HERE

With Italy tip-toeing in and out of recession, Pitti Uomo felt a little skittish on confidence. It had an atmosphere of brands holding on by their finger nails, with many hoping for a strong SS20 season to help pull them through.

Sadly, it’s the quality makers who seem most susceptible to failure. Their high costs, lower margins and small quantities make it a difficult balancing act to continue to stay strong and produce quality product in Italy. These are the brands who are barely known yet sing through the quality on the hanger and all at a fair price. Today, you rarely get this kind of care and attention with a designer name. Here are five made-in-Italy menswear makers we should all be supporting:

Left - Pitti Uomo 96 soaking up the sunshine

President’s

Founded in 1957 by current creative director Guido Biondi’s grandfather as ‘7 Bell S.p.A’, a Tuscan atelier, it was the very first producer of Italian denim. Today, they make colourful and contemporary menswear instilled with the best made-in-Italy production.

Right - President's - For the SS20 season, there were bold minimal orange jackets, tie-dyed shirting and hand sketched T-shirts

Barena

Based in Venice, Barena, the Italian for ‘mudflat’, has been steadily making inroads into the UK with its stylish and original menswear. Inspired by the Venetian lagoon, Barena says it mimics the qualities of traditional workwear with a modern aesthetic. Loose shapes, quiet precise tailoring, exquisite fabrics, attention to detail and confident versatility are the pillars of their design philosophy.

The menswear designer is Massimo Pigozzo who has been with the Barena family for over twenty years. Trained as a tailor, for Pigozzo it is important to create designs that are simple, understated and easy to wear. Deep fabric research, pattern work and soft tailoring are key to his approach and he says it is not about reproductions or constant alterations. 

Left - Barena - For the SS20 season, it was all about contrast with playful tailoring and short sleeved shirts with contrasting collars

Doppiaa

Meaning double A in Italian and named after two friends, Alain and Albert, Doppiaa is designed for the whole family, for all ages and all occasions. Based in Milan, Doppiaa has two essential cornerstones: 100% Italian manufacturing, and the painstakingly executed pinpointing and selecting of the highest quality fabrics.

Right - Doppiaa - For the SS20 season, it was brightly coloured towelling tops, pyjama style piped printed shirts and strikingly striped trousers

Sunhouse

This is everything the more famous Missoni should be; colourful, stylish and contemporary. Designed by Simonetta Bocelli and Franco Santarini and based in Florence, Sunhouse is a specialist in Italian made knitwear in a rainbow of colours in classic menswear shapes.

Left - Sunhouse - For the SS20 season, it was about bold colour stories in signature zig-zagged blazers and delicate polo shirts

BOB

BOB is an Italian sportswear brand created by two young Italian guys, Alessio Bonaiuti and Tommaso Bellini. They started their adventure 11 years ago in Prato, with the idea developing from going around vintage warehouses where huge quantities of second hand clothes were divided by colours and then recycled. Going through these warehouses was like being absorbed in a spectacular coloured market that resembled a field of flowers they thought and it was this image was the starting idea to develop a new concept of eclectic and colourful menswear.

Right - BOB - For the SS20 season, it was all about bold, pattern blazers and colourful separates 

These are simply beautiful clothes made with care from great ingredients. While you are paying a premium, you are, in fact, getting great value when you consider the expertise and pedigree of these makers. These are the kind of clothes that are a joy to wear and will last you a very long time.

Milan gave us handbags, more shiny coats and reasons to look like a tourist. Here goes AW18:

Handbags

Ooooo, look at you! Bags have been getting smaller, so we may as well call a spade a spade.

From Left - Fendi, Palm Angels, Prada

Mr Sheen

The future is wipe clean and the quicker you get your head around this, the better.

From Left - Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Versace

Below - Both Moschino

Diagonal Stripes

Like a walking 70s airline logo.

Below - Both Fendi

Distorted Stripes

This could be one of my favourite trends of the season. Not blurred lines, but distorted ones.

Above From Left - Fendi, Ermanno Scervino, Marni, Moschino

Open Arms

The new caping.

Left - Gucci

Tourist

Nothing wrong with looking like a tourist in AW18. The worst the better. Just don't look up!

Below - Fendi, Prada, Prada

Blanket Coat

Any blanket looking design cut into a coat or simply just thrown over your shoulders.

From Left - Fendi, Gucci, No.21, Marni

Below - Marni

Go Wilde

What did Oscar say about resisting temptation? Dress like you haven't.

Below From Left - Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dolce & Gabbana

Badges

This is part normcore, part 80s, part 90s, part...

Both Prada

Coloured Lenses

Fear & Loathing lenses. I wore these all last Summer and they ain't going anywhere. 

Below Both - Dolce & Gabbana

We’ve all been there: you get back from the shops and they’ve left the security tag on. The alarms never went off and you’re left with a veal-coloured piece of plastic visibly hanging from your prized purchase. You’ve now got the task to remove it without creating a giant hole in the cloth, or, annoyingly, having to venture back to the shops to have it taken off.

Worry no more, as it’s actually a style statement now. Thanks to South London’s cheeky Oiboy label and LA’s Palm Angels, those security tags are the new must-have. 

Wear it with pride and channel your inner Winona Ryder even though you’ve paid for it. Just be wary of those suspicious looking security cards and let’s just hope you don’t get a crescendo of alarms everytime you visit the shops.

Far Left - Palm Angels AW18

Left - Oiboy - 'Stolen Goods' Sweatshirt - £45

Below From Left - Oiboy - 'Stolen Goods' Cap - £25, Oiboy branded security tags

The Crystal Maze Jumpsuit

The all-in-one becomes a style adventure as the jumpsuit, finally, makes into men's wardrobes. Think of it as a cost saver, as you get a top and bottom in one.

From Left - Rochas, Prada, Prada, Lanvin,

Below - From Left - Ralph Lauren, Facetasm, Ami, Cerruti1881

Collars

The shirt is back! -you heard it here first - so that also means the collar is too. Wear it messy and open.

From Left - Prada, Marni, Wooyoungmi, Valentino

Name Badges

This trend followed on from London - here

Left - Prada

The Soviet Shoulder

Forget the Cold War, it's all about the cold shoulder for SS18. Think big and high. More hunched than hench!

From Left - Prada, Thom Browne,  Rick Owens, Paul Smith

Below Left - Balenciaga, Wooyoungmi, Dries van Noten

Return of the Tie

We've seen the shirt - above - is back, so it only seems fitting that the neck tie makes a reappearance.

From Left - Marni, Marni, Kenzo, SSS World Corp

From Below - Paul Smith, Wooyoungmi, Fendi, Antonio Marras

Clashing

The less it matches the better.

Left - Marni, Sacai

Vertical Stripes

They make you taller & thinner? Where do I sign?!

Left - Marni, Balmain, Etudes, Haider Ackermann

Below Left - Paul Smith, Cerruti 1881, Ami

Long Shirt

Long & loose. Just don't call it 'long-line'!

From Left - Thom Browne, Alexander McQueen, Dries van Noten, Officine Generale

HyperFlorals

Florals on Mephedrone!

Below - Kenzo, Ami, DSquared2

Long Short Sleeves

It's all part of the larger-than-life, oversized trend of trying to make your polo shirt sleeves touch your wrists.

From Left - Balenciaga, Balenciaga, DSquared2, MSGM, Neil Barrett

Italians do it better. This seems to be the theme coming out of Milan fashion week where the Italians have taken the bull by the horns and produced some of the best menswear we’ve seen from them in a long time. You may as well go down in style!

Here are TheChicGeek’s trend highlights:

Pink/Green Scene

Think avocado and prawn cocktail sauce.

From Left - Gucci, Bally, Gucci

Fresh 70s

The seventies got a refresh and contemporary update. Chevrons were the order of the day.

From Far Left - Neil Barrett, Fendi, Dsquared2, Neil Barrett

(See TheChicGeek meet Neil Barrett just before this collection - here)

Towelling Coat

Knowing Fendi this is probably made from kittens. Get the robe out of the spa and take it to the street.

Both Fendi

Bleach

More bleach. It's one way of cleaning your clothes. (See how London did it - here)

From Left - Gucci, Dsquared2, MSGM, Bally

Scout

The most stylish men are always prepared. Now get over prepared!

From Left - Moncler Gamme Bleu, Ferragamo, Prada, Ferragamo

New Evening

Nobody dresses up anymore, said no one, ever. It's time to get imaginative and experiment with new shapes including ruffles and tails.

From Left - Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci

Jazz Age

Jazz, great! From literal at Dolce to art-deco Marcel waves at Fendi. I thought I'd throw a painting from the era by British artist Duncan Grant for additional inspiration. 

From Left - Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Missoni, Fendi, Ralph Lauren 

Logoed belts

Rediscover your waist. Suck it in and stick a letter on it. 

Left - Bally

Brand #me

Nobody does narcissism like the Italians!

Below - Giorgio Armani

Milan is home to many of fashion's megabrands. This powerhouse is full of the commercial sex appeal we've come to expect from the home of Italian fashion. TheChicGeek casts his expert eye over the details and trends worth coveting:

Chinoiserie

It could have something to do with the recent MET exhibition in New York, or simply the cycle of Chinese influence is coming around for another season, but look out for Mao collars and delicate Chinese decoration in relaxed, voluminous shapes.

From Left - Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dolce & Gabbana

Nightwear

Step straight out of bed, or straight in, depending on timings, with the new dressing gown type coats and pyjama shirts.

Below - Both - Bally

Distortion

No, you're not seeing things. Colour and pattern are stylishly distorted to make the wearer standout while confusingly blending in.

From Left - Salvatore Ferragamo, Salvatore Ferragamo, MGSM

Longline

Call it ethnic or ASOS!, everything is untucked and in a longer length. Just be careful when wearing with shorts.

Below - Both - Versace

Technical

Comfort seems to be the key for technical fabrics today: a new ease of movement and travel focused.

From Left - Jil Sander, Prada

Denim

Shake that money maker! The money spinner for the majority of major fashion brands, it appears on the catwalk in recognition of the part it has played in creating these brands and the fashion landscape today.

From Left - Calvin Klein, Ports 1961, Calvin Klein, Ports 1961 

Birds

Not so much Hitchcock as Attenborough with parrots to hummingbirds seen on the chests of menswear from Milan.

From Left - Gucci, Ports 1961, Dolce & Gabbana

Lace

I can see right through this trend which was first seen in London.

From Left - No.21, Gucci, Gucci

Patchwork

Just because - The new Gucci is slightly mental - good mental - in a Fight Club meets Peter Sellers kinda way. Love this dressing up box style.

Left - Gucci