it fox

The Trap­pings of a Feast – A ref­er­ence of past, future and present, Vivi­enne West­wood con­tin­ues a recent streak, chan­nel­ing her eccen­tric­i­ties into a more cohe­sive col­lec­tion. This sea­son, West­wood took her dap­per Brit and devel­oped his wardrobe in chap­ters, begin­ning with suit­ing and tran­si­tion­ing to more fluid dress­ing with a casual incli­na­tion. Here, over­size suit jack­ets, paper bag waist trousers and sus­penders became flo­ral wreaths, shorts and knee-highs, flo­ral printed trousers, worn-in sweaters and other fun pieces. Exhibit­ing a free spirit, West­wood once again proved that her man can be sophis­ti­cated in long cardi­gans or an evening jacket, while still pos­sess­ing an ele­ment of spon­tane­ity with tunics, plung­ing neck­lines and other novel details. (Via: Carl)

Per­fect Fit – As chief cre­ative office, designer Mar­tin Cooper brings a cer­tain rich­ness to Bel­staff, with a sharp new col­lec­tion focused on tai­lor­ing and fit. Spot­light­ing their her­itage in mak­ing fine out­er­wear, belted sil­hou­ettes are instantly a strong point. Mix­ing com­ple­men­tary hues, seams are high­lighted, pock­ets out­lined and each coat brought to a close with a fan­tas­tic cinched waist. Mean­while, the biker jacket is a stun­ning feat in but­tery smooth leather, fur­nished in rich rusty tones. Jux­ta­posed with struc­tured knitwear, fea­tur­ing rein­forced tai­lor­ing in itself and trousers, boast­ing microdots and mod­ern pan­els, Bel­staff exe­cutes a sea­son with strong pieces at a glance. (Via: Carl)

Into the Rain­bow – Designer Mas­simo Gior­netti def­i­nitely changed inspi­ra­tion for his lat­est col­lec­tion at the helm of Ital­ian fash­ion house Sal­va­tore Fer­rag­amo. If fall/winter 2012 was about rein­vent­ing the idea of a styl­ish busi­ness­man in dark and deep col­ors, for spring/summer 2013 the designer opted for a joy­ful and lively mood that infected the whole col­lec­tion, thanks to catchy and bold shades. There’s no room for black for sum­mer 2013, but this doesn’t mean that the col­lec­tion dis­played by Gior­netti wasn’t refined. In fact it included desir­able and, most of all, wear­able pieces, designed in a cheer­ful palette of col­ors that com­bines vit­a­minic hues, or fresh sor­bet shades, prov­ing that color block­ing at its finest doesn’t exclude per­fectly tai­lored pieces and sar­to­r­ial sil­hou­ettes, matched with young and col­or­ful sneak­ers, even with the most sophis­ti­cated and refined suits. Graphic pat­terns and stripes are the only prints dis­played on the Milanese run­way, for a col­lec­tion that started with a smart orgy of col­ors, and ended with pure and immac­u­late white looks, embell­ished by tiny and col­or­ful details. Once again Gior­netti deliv­ered a smart, beau­ti­ful and desir­able col­lec­tion, but most of all he dared by using a con­cept, color block­ing, in a new and appeal­ing way. (Via: Davide)

Sports Luxe – Hav­ing a lit­tle fun this sea­son, Dirk Bikkem­bergs takes his sig­na­ture spin on sports­wear on vaca­tion. Jux­ta­pos­ing his usual ath­letic pieces with more every­day gar­ments, dressed in bright col­ors and loud prints, Bikkem­bergs serves up a col­lec­tion in need of great diges­tion. Start­ing with the idea of the track suit, a cool dark color palette leaves room for a tra­di­tional view on menswear’s relaxed agenda but ele­ments like a leather accented, belted jump­suit sug­gest oth­er­wise. Prov­ing that sports­wear can be taken with a lit­tle cheek but still worn in fair use, hues of orange are color blocked for sep­a­rates like the blazer, indi­cat­ing that you, yes you can be part of your own Olympics team. The col­lec­tion is sim­ply cheerful…electric blue pants, a fit­ted jacket, cov­ered in rep­tile, suit­ing shorts, baggy trousers, a bright graf­fiti of sorts. With Bikkem­bergs, the results are end­less and ulti­mately enjoyable. (Via: Carl)

Engag­ing the Fun­da­men­tals – Pre­sent­ing col­lec­tions with a min­i­mal­ist eye, this time around, Calvin Klein Col­lec­tion cre­ative direc­tor Italo Zuc­chelli looked to the build­ing blocks of Amer­i­can menswear to color the sea­son. Con­struct­ing out­fits with a rea­son­able mind, t-shirts, light jack­ets and pants made up the core com­po­nents of a strict uni­form. Begin­ning with Calvin Klein’s cor­ner­stone, washed denim, the col­lec­tion had an acces­si­ble tone that was eas­ily blended into Zucchelli’s knack for mod­ern details that included a neutral-hued sheer jacket and a boxy sweat­shirt. Mov­ing on from ensem­bles that are inte­grable to most to a more young aes­thetic, a play­ful take on barely there but THERE prints coin­cided with baggy above the knee shorts, over­size t-shirts and inevitably the sports jacket. From there it was back to the heart of the sea­son, which was most obvi­ously the iconic jean jacket. From denim and creamy neu­trals to jet black, the sta­ple was the per­fect tool to marry Calvin Klein’s her­itage to today’s mode, whether it’s a rich obses­sion with leather or a sleek new awareness. (Via: Carl)

The Pullover – Bot­tega Veneta cre­ative direc­tor Tomas Maier had a soft vision in mind for men when his col­lec­tion was revealed in Milan today. Inspired by the sim­plic­ity and ease of the pullover, Maier set out to present a lineup that inter­preted the basic for dif­fer­ent occa­sions, socially and cul­tur­ally. Using nat­ural tones, silk chif­fon, organza, silk poplin and silk crepe de chine, the col­lec­tion got off to a start with tunics and lace-front tops. Mov­ing on to anoraks and light lay­ers, Maier incor­po­rated his genius work with color and pat­terns, cre­at­ing a visu­ally stun­ning geo­met­ric print for the sea­son. Exper­i­ment­ing with a touch of fringe and the occa­sional syn­thetic fab­ric, the col­lec­tion really made an effort to con­vey a casu­ally chic lifestyle. This idea even trans­ferred over to suit­ing, which was relaxed, cut from linen and adorned with flo­ral prints. When not in loose trousers and eas­ily acces­si­ble shirt­ing, Bot­tega Veneta’s man was a sophis­ti­cated vision in a suit or a charm­ing man with great humor, boast­ing a pullover sweater, fea­tur­ing a graphic print of a full-button down polo. In short, Bot­tega Veneta set the sea­son to a laid-back vibe, mix­ing a sportier roman­tic with the spir­ited Bohemian. (Via: Carl)

Indigo Days – Pick­ing up right where he left off for the upcom­ing fall, Neil Bar­rett pro­duces yet another clever col­lec­tion. Fus­ing the safari motif with a con­tem­po­rary view of sports­wear and urban cul­ture, Bar­rett arrives at a func­tional lineup, dressed in hues of pur­ple and blue. Set­ting an easy tone right from the start with loose slouchy sil­hou­ettes and effort­less com­bi­na­tions, sweat­shirts, jack­ets, shorts and trousers paved the way for a tidy take on the con­tem­po­rary wardrobe with a boy scout’s honor. Here, button-downs and coor­di­nat­ing shorts took on the com­fort of paja­mas, while an end­less num­ber of pieces made a styl­ish impact with imper­fect streaks of color. Mean­while, where the col­lec­tion really hit its stride was the intro­duc­tion of leather. Dark and styl­ish, the bad boy clas­sic made an appear­ance with sharp fits and gor­geous color options, rang­ing from a deep pur­ple to blood-red. Con­tin­u­ing on this streak of win­ning details, pony hair was incor­po­rated into jack­ets and footwear, before the col­lec­tion came to a sound fin­ish with tai­lored evening­wear, cut for a nar­row fit. (Via: Carl)

Indigo Days – Pick­ing up right where he left off for the upcom­ing fall, Neil Bar­rett pro­duces yet another clever col­lec­tion. Fus­ing the safari motif with a con­tem­po­rary view of sports­wear and urban cul­ture, Bar­rett arrives at a func­tional lineup, dressed in hues of pur­ple and blue. Set­ting an easy tone right from the start with loose slouchy sil­hou­ettes and effort­less com­bi­na­tions, sweat­shirts, jack­ets, shorts and trousers paved the way for a tidy take on the con­tem­po­rary wardrobe with a boy scout’s honor. Here, button-downs and coor­di­nat­ing shorts took on the com­fort of paja­mas, while an end­less num­ber of pieces made a styl­ish impact with imper­fect streaks of color. Mean­while, where the col­lec­tion really hit its stride was the intro­duc­tion of leather. Dark and styl­ish, the bad boy clas­sic made an appear­ance with sharp fits and gor­geous color options, rang­ing from a deep pur­ple to blood-red. Con­tin­u­ing on this streak of win­ning details, pony hair was incor­po­rated into jack­ets and footwear, before the col­lec­tion came to a sound fin­ish with tai­lored evening­wear, cut for a nar­row fit. (Via: Carl)

A Spot of Youth & Class – With a sharp part and a lit­tle pomade, Les Hommes sends their youth out and look­ing for­ward. Mix­ing the spon­tane­ity of young age with the grandeur and ele­gance of sea­soned matu­rity, a fun chic lineup pre­vails. Tak­ing items as basic as the t-shirt or tank and pair­ing it with a cum­mer­bund, Les Hommes made more than a ges­ture at relaxed for­mal­ity. In a world where volu­mi­nous sports­wear pieces such as a strik­ing jacket can co-exist with more refined gar­ments like a tuxedo jacket, the brand takes the rigid­ity out of tra­di­tional menswear and replaces it with a con­tem­po­rary atti­tude. Mix­ing and match­ing gar­ments to achieve the per­fect sea­sonal for­mula, a play on pro­por­tion as well as geo­met­ric shapes, gave way to a well-rounded range. From leather shorts and boat-neck sweaters out­lined in con­trast­ing col­ors to bolts of cobalt or a chance rep­tile fin­ish, Les Hommes really had fun with the sea­son, deliv­er­ing a col­lec­tion that was both sharp and cheerful. (Via: Carl)

Versace’s Glad­i­a­tor – Con­tin­u­ing a bright-colored trend from her last spring col­lec­tion, Donatella Versace’s lat­est was not for the faint of heart. Tak­ing fash­ion to a fun, friv­o­lous place, today’s show­ing was all about excess and bling. Dressed in sheer fab­rics, metallics and show­ing a lot of skin, Versace’s man is most def­i­nitely not the aver­age but the excep­tion. With enough robes to open a bath­house, the Ital­ian fash­ion house’s sig­na­ture print made the fin­ished prod­uct an easy sea­son stand­out. Com­bined with emblem encrusted glad­i­a­tor san­dals and over­size belts to cinch jack­ets and robes at the waist, the acces­sory won out, even when it came to suit­ing. With a hint of the iconic power suit, ties and pocket scarves were fin­ished in metallics. When it came to but­tons, they as well were any­thing but sub­tle. Over­size and gold, but­tons adorned jack­ets, rang­ing from double-breasted to halved at the sleeves. Mean­while, a cer­tain sporti­ness and a ten­dency for the exotic came into play as the col­lec­tion pro­gressed with over­size t-shirts, large chains and a plethora of prints that com­ple­mented the loud range quite well. (Via: Carl)