ShortList’s style director Adrian Clark and fashion stylist Barnaby Ash report back on the latest trends in fashion and grooming on the opening weekend of Milan fashion week for Autumn/ Winter 2012
Ermenegildo Zegna tapped into the trend for texture on Saturday with a show that took power broker styling into a new comfort zone. Heavy bouclé and knit for tailoring was worn with denim shirts, knitted ties and shearling coats. A muted autumnal colour palette with a feel good factor switched Zegna’s attention from city to the countryside, without detracting from its usual sartorial splendour.
Over at Jil Sander (picture 3), designer Raf Simons showcased severe silhouettes with belted long-line trenches in high-shine black leather. Fitted business suits were worn with leather gloves and accessories came in the form of luxury leather bags that looked like crumpled paper.
At Dolce & Gabbana, tailoring techniques were explored in tonal shades of charcoal and ash with an emphasis placed back on the suit, allowing flights of fantasy to emerge through rich and decadent Baroque embroidery in gold thread. Napoleonic, sweeping coats and thermal rib underwear also peppered the collection that, while verging on the classic, was by no means a shrinking violet.
Roberto Cavalli fused biker leathers with Italian artisan techniques in knit and exotic skins. Bottega Veneta decorated its tailoring with splashes of hi-gloss colour, worn with metallic silver shirts, while Emporio Armani was more playful, showing chenille knits and textured coats.
Burberry Prorsum (picture 1) was typically British with a 1960s take on town and country styling. Tweed double-breasted coats were shaped to the body, shooting jackets came in quilted suede and knits featured fox face emblems, which were all the right side of quirky English eccentric and proved to be one of the highlight, stand-out collections shown in the Italian style capital.
However, Prada (picture 2) showed it was still at the top of its game with elegant double-breasted tailoring and coats that had an almost regal and Edwardian sobriety, choosing a stellar cast of A-list actors, such as Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Willem Dafoe and Jamie Bell as models. The weekend closed with Calvin Klein presenting an update on its oversized sports luxe signature, this time using crocodile for sweatshirts and cashmere for jogging pants.
Adrian Clark, explains how you can achieve this look from the Roberto Cavalli Autumn Winter 2012 show:
As far as grooming was concerned, two big messages rang loud and clear: the return of the moustache and loose ‘undone’ hair that had volume and structure, epitomised by Roberto Cavalli. To achieve Cavalli’s look (picture 4) with matte skin and swept back hair that had volume and hold, try L’Oreal Paris Studio Line Indestructible Sculpting Wax £3.56 for 75ml, L’Oreal’s first wax for an extreme hold with elastic resistance and L’Oreal Paris Men Expert Pure & Matte Moisturising Gel £9.18 for 50ml, which will offer the right level of shine control to achieve matte skin, non-greasy, non-sticky and quickly absorbed into the skin’s surface.
L’Oreal Paris 0800-030 4032
