MARTIAL LAW

Military chic and woollen cocoons invade the catwalks for autumn/winter. Jenny zouari reports from this season’s runway shows

MODE À LA MILITAIRE

GENTLEMEN, EN ATTENTION! This season is all about military rigour, with decoration-emblazoned outerwear in sober hues taking autumn/winter 2010 menswear catwalks by siege. Greatcoats, bomber jackets and other styles borrowed from officers’ wardrobes were among the signature pieces at Balmain, Roberto Cavalli, Alexander McQueen and Moncler Gamme Bleu. 

But it was Burberry Prorsum, the British heritage label known for its stellar outerwear, that delivered perhaps the season’s strongest military line-up, a veritable review of austere pea coats and parkas.

Designer Christopher Bailey looked to the debonair style of the British Empire, turning out dashing officers in elegantly lined double-breasted coats in navy and loden. Lustrous brass buttons added just the right touch of understated bling, in two neat rows at the chest or the cuffs. Epaulettes dressed up everything, from the oversized putty-coloured parkas to the sumptuous cashmere sweaters.

Bailey dusted off the greatcoat, churning out lighter, sleeker variations on that hulking First World War staple. A metallic zipper at the waist gave a razor-cut greatcoat in olive drab shape and a self-assured sexiness that no civilian would dare argue with.

BOMBS AWAY

THE BOMBER JACKET, unquestionably the hot outerwear style of the moment, strafed Milan’s runways with particular intensity. Etro and Burberry Prorsum’s classic bombers in buttery brown leather with oversized shearling collars looked as if they’d been snatched right off the back of a World War Two fighter pilot. Dolce & Gabbana’s more affordable second line, D&G, served up cool variations on the classic look, with bombers in chic, icy grey leather.

True to its trend-setting reputation, Prada pushed the envelope, swapping leather for cosy knits in yellow-and-black patterns with cherry red shearling at the throat. 

CHUNKY KNITS

FOR THOSE WHO crave more indulgence as the days get shorter and colder, luxury labels fielded a comfy alternative: oversized knits that cocoon the body in featherweight cashmere and downy lambs’ wool.

It’s become almost impossible to broach the topic of oversized knitwear without talking about Damir Doma. The Croatian-born designer, a critical darling, has made that cocoony silhouette his trademark since he burst onto the international scene several seasons ago. For autumn/winter – the season most suited for his bulky, body-enveloping style – the rising star sent out calf-length, tie-waisted cardigans with fancy tulip hemlines and abbreviated bathrobe sweaters in black-and-grey-striped mohair.

Still, no one was chunkier or bulkier than Burberry. The label took gold in both categories with a grandpa cardigan that looked as if it could double as a bathrobe, in grey wool so thick the oversized ensemble appeared to outweigh the waifish model sporting it on the catwalk.

At Kenzo, designer Antonio Marras piled it on, slapping a grandpa cardie over knit vests over V-neck sweaters. In a season dominated by military strictness, Marras’s relaxed silhouettes, in vibrant hues and zany patterns, were a breath of fresh air.  

Dolce & Gabbana paid homage to men at work with heavyweight ribbed button-down sweaters layered over gauzy tank tops and thermal jodhpurs that gave the collection a 1920s feel. Woollen turtlenecks were paired with paint-smeared jeans that seemed as if they’d walked off an assembly line for the Model-T Ford.

But whereas knitwear at other labels is all about covering up, at Dolce & Gabbana – arguably Italy’s sexiest brand – it’s about revealing. Crewneck sweaters were made in a loose fishnet that showed off the models’ muscle-bound torsos. Skin also shone through holes and rips in the tank tops, and the button-front crewneck sweaters were sheer and second-skin snug.

Note to prospective customers: some serious gym sessions are a must before investing in this ultra-sexy knitwear.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS
               
HIKING DOESN’T get any classier than this. Much-coveted Paris label Lanvin gave the rugged sportsman a high-glamour makeover, mixing utilitarian garb with dramatic statement pieces. Menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver layered oversized sweaters, rain slickers and trek-ready calf-high boots with chic slim-cut or flowing wide-legged trousers.

The collection mixed sturdy drab and camouflage canvas with sumptuous silks and fine wools, adding a sprinkling of sequins and flashes of gold lamé that gave a sumptuous feminine touch to the ravishing collection. 

High-class hiking gear mingled with business staples at Ermenegildo Zegna, too, with the hefty-soled dress shoes setting the tone for the nature-loving collection. The Italian label topped razor-cut suits in stone grey cashmere with loden overcoats in boiled wool that begged for a jaunt in the Alps.

MONOCHROME, BUT NOT MONOTONE

MENSWEAR IS, of course, always more subdued than ladies’ fare, but this season was even more understated. A toned-down palette of neutral alternatives to black – oatmeal, charcoal and mouse greys – was all but de rigueur, as designers steered clear of strident, eye-popping hues.

And to make dressing easier as the days get shorter, many designers served up the neutral shades one at a time, delivering head-to-toe monochrome looks. 

At Alexander McQueen, the models even matched the set: many of the looks – slim, printed suits in butterscotch – were almost indistinguishable from the printed backdrop and catwalk. Skulking the runway in matching outfits, the models looked like impossibly hip chameleons.

REINVENTING THE SUIT

FOR MANY, if not most, menswear designers, updating that most timeless of classics – the suit – consists in modifying the slacks’ headlines or changing the width of the lapels. But for Dior Homme’s Kris Van Assche, the exercise is something altogether more radical.

For autumn/winter, the young Belgian ripped his suits apart, putting them together again with the seams on the outside. He fit them with asymmetrical, raw-seamed panels that emerged from beneath the lapels and fluttered with dark romanticism as the models walked. Jacket hemlines tapered into long, dangling V-shapes, and lapels morphed into scarves wound loosely round the models’ necks. 

  Under Dior Homme’s former menswear designer Hedi Slimane, the label became synonymous with second-skin rocker suits so tight that Karl Lagerfeld credits them with having pushed him to shed dozens of pounds. But Van Assche has taken the Dior silhouette in the opposite direction, widening it out and giving it light, airy volume.

To balance out the volume on top, Van Assche cropped the trousers – cut generously through the hips and low in the crotch. That carrot trouser shape was also a big winner on catwalks from Dolce & Gabbana to Trussardi.   

BRITANNIA MAJOR

THE DAPPER ENGLISH gentleman was something of a fixture at the autumn/winter shows, with designers from John Galliano to British heritage house Dunhill taking their inspiration from London’s Savile Row.

Galliano served up contemporary variations on Britain’s most celebrated sleuth, fitting out his modern-day Sherlock Holmes with greatcoats made from PVC and trenches in high-tech nylon. The looks managed to appear at once both classic and edgy, a difficult feat that Galliano might easily have dismissed as “elementary, my dear Watson.”

The king of Portofino chic, Roberto Cavalli, was having a Braveheart moment. The designer – who’s built an empire out of dressing the Italian Riviera’s yacht set – looked to Scotland for his tartan-heavy collection of skinny trousers and crested schoolboy blazers.

Dunhill’s fresh-faced models looked like they’d been plucked straight out of one of Britain’s elite public schools, in narrow tweed trousers and crest-emblazoned jackets that would feel right at home at Eton. You could see Kanye West outfitting his posse in head-to-toe Dunhill this season.

Still, it’s a look to be worn with caution:
It’s timeless, yes, but not necessarily ageless: Past age 40, the British schoolboy garb tends to stop looking dapper and start looking vaguely silly.

CLASSICS

HERMÈS ONCE AGAIN stayed above the fray with a pitch-perfect collection of timeless, trend-defying menswear staples that are sure to look as good a decade from now as they do today.

Trompe l’oeil V-neck sweaters and turtlenecks in sumptuous cashmere were worn with classic single- or double-button blazers and perfectly cut slacks in wool seersucker, velvet or corduroy. Parkas in crocodile and calfskin trenches highlighted leather-working heritage of the 173-year-old label, which got its start as a saddle-maker.

As other labels relentlessly pursue “fashion-forward” silhouettes, it’s comforting that someone’s worried only about giving men the finest possible incarnation of the clothes they actually want to wear.