- Real Men Wear Heels – Fashion Shoot - 25 February, 2014
- A Straight Man Worth Knowing – Philip H. Mancuso - 19 July, 2013
- A Fashion Forward Letter - 12 July, 2013
Attention all… it’s finally happened. Men’s fashion is catching up. How do I know this? Style.com of course. While I don’t have as much time as I’d like to gawk at all the collections over the internet, I did catch the necessities.: Raf Simons, Givenchy, Dries, Laurent… you know, the basics.
Then, this morning I happened to open up my WWD and see a spectacular review from the buyers of all the major retailers around the world, dishing on the Paris collections. Say what you want, but just because designers put fashion forward things down the runway doesn’t mean that fashion is changing.
In this day and age, with corporate mergers and executive accounts, the real trendsetters are the buyers. They decide what is allowed on your body not the designer. Sad but true, welcome to the millennium. So what did we see on the runway?
Well, Raf Simons kept it super mod and uber chic with lots of black and dark colors. He offered feminine inspired pieces that work well for layering and a few quirky pieces that give the whole collection a boyish charm.
Givenchy produced glorified dopeness, full of galactic prints and proportion variety that will work on many different body types. Saint Laurent offered classic rock cool and a bit more color than usual, and Dries van Noten stayed trued to their quirky nature with jungle prints and sheer sport jerseys.
I found the shows to be on trend, perfect for the street and kind of amazing but that typically means that buyers won’t like it … “not practical” they say. But what do you know, the fashion God are blessing us once again, because the buyers ate this season up like free lube and condoms.
According to my WWD, the VP and fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Wear stated: “there is a strong statement of color, in addition to graphic, black and white looks. We see botanical and jungle prints as well as cool indigo denim. Denim–imitating fabrics come in beautiful shades of blue and are mixed with other materials, which makes them look fresh. As for silhouettes, shorter length prevails for pants and jackets. Brand play with volume and proportions: it’s slim on top and full on bottom or vice versa.”
He continues to says that “Paris feels vibrant, bold and confident. It feels like spring. Historically, the bulk of our business is in Milan, but we are now making significant investments in new brand and they are all coming out of Paris.”
Queers and dears, I believe what you have right there is a raving trend report from a more conservative yet powerful retail major, Saks Fifth avenue. This is so delicious, it’s got to be fattening.
So cheers to you my fashion forward queens, it’s your street savvy style and die-hard blogging that pulled through the fashion that we’ve always dreamed of.
Don’t forget to tweet me your thoughts and let me know what you want me to write about next!
