Style director Adrian Clark and stylist Barnaby Ash report back on Issey Miyake Men, Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten.
Issey Miyake embarked upon a new chapter in its brand evolution yesterday with a new design team at the helm of its menswear collections. From spring 2012 onwards the line will be known as Issey Miyake Men. Its debut offering took the colour blue as its theme and explored both its diversity and the spiritual effects that the many shades and tones have on the soul: from the strong and mysterious contrasts of midnight and cobalt blue through to the light and uplifting qualities of turquoise, sky and cornflower. The collection opened with linen jackets and shirts made using a dyeing technique whereby parts of the linen are sandwiched between boards creating an almost graphic and uniform tie-dye effect. This resulted in a less heavy-handed approach than we have ever seen from the label before. A great debut that we’re sure promises much to come in future seasons.
The most-anticipated collection of the Paris show schedule was also shown yesterday in the form of yet another debut by Kim Jones (ex-Dunhill designer) for Louis Vuitton. Taking the reins from Paul Helbers, and under Marc Jacobs’ direction, this presentation was everything that Louis Vuitton should be: luxurious, light, youthful and fresh. The fit of the suits was modern and the accessories desirable, which featured quilted abstract LV emblem bags in army green, ecru and navy with tan trim and featherweight sportswear was worn with short shorts, tennis socks and shoes. Summery separates had an urban ethnic look and came in bold madras, checks of cobalt blue and highlighter pen red, wrapped at the neck with fringed scarves. The collection surpassed any expectations we had for Jones’ first stab at repositioning the brand, opening it up to a new, and no doubt loyal, customer base.
The day finished with a fine collection from Dries Van Noten, who fused graphic and technical sportswear dress-codes with urban city sensibilities, welding the precision of constructing garments for sports with that from the world of men’s tailoring – a juxtaposition of the technical and the traditional. Favourite moments included the knits, jockey-inspired bold horizontal stripes for trousers and blazers and translucent parkas in pigment dyed parachute silks that were bound in contrast tapes.
Shockwaves Style Director, Michael Douglas explains how you can achieve this look from the Louis Vuitton Spring Summer 2012 show:
This is a very modern hairstyle, loosely based on the quiff. Ask your hairdresser to cut the hair very square, with no rounded layers (they should know exactly what that means). Begin by applying Shockwaves Styling Steel Gel(RRP £2.99 for 150ml) to damp hair and blow dry. However if you prefer a more simple approach to styling, use Shockwaves Recreate Styling Wax (RRP £2.99 for 75ml) on dry hair and comb into style. Put in a very deep side parting on one side, create a bit of height at the front and let the wax give the texture.
