Salvatore Ferragamo Fall/Winter 2011-2012

Peeking through the seams of Salvatore Ferragamo’s latest outing was a nod to the easy cool of the 70′s and a desire to show that menswear can be both masculine and remarkably soft with warm sentiments. Embracing a relaxed pacing of separates and outerwear, fall’s collection boasted dark rich hues of autumn, contrasted against sensational flesh tones. Resonating a refined luxury, carried off with little to no effort, the range quickly turned to a lifestyle, gently touching upon western and militaristic influences. From strong tailored overcoats and suede trousers to buttery soft leather, Salvatore Ferragamo excelled in paying compliments to the heart of their man–robust, personal and adaptive.

Tim Banks review

At Salvatore Ferragamo, Massimiliano Giornetti opened with neutral creams and winter whites, but it was a red herring of sorts. Over the course of his collection, out marched a series of colorful suits—full tone-on-tone looks, in fact, in penny-bright copper, bottle green, and oceanic teal. The driving spirit was the seventies: the slightly boot-cut three-piece suits, acres of lapel, and all the suede. The soundtrack cued up the Doors and Lou Reed. "What I really want to tell is a story of a sensual man," Giornetti said at his studio the day before the show. Sensual it was—sometimes too much so. A few overly literal looks would have been best left back in the seventies. That said, swagger is emerging as this season's Milanese have-to-have, and at Ferragamo it was even built into the shoes: heavy-soled horse-leather boots crisscrossed with buckled straps. "Making the sole heavier is really making the guys walk with more strength and energy in the show," Giornetti explained. Let's say it: They strut.


source: Style.com

Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2011-2012

The latest collection from Louis Vuitton finds its inspiration in an unlikely source, more precisely–Amish. Subscribing to a bleak state of affairs, the latest outing from Louis Vuitton saw a blackout where suiting was the main attraction. Playing with technical fabrics and a jarring use of vibrant orange, the lineup consisted of the French house playing its hand at tailoring while utilizing modern lines and shapes for a sophisticated feat.

Tim Blanks review

The new Louis Vuitton collection was basic black in palette and mood, appropriate given that Paul Helbers, who heads the menswear design team, was inspired by the monochromatic dress sense of the Amish and the disturbing oeuvre of David Lynch. That recipe for a split personality was served on a runway wreathed in shadow, to the tune of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" (which, after its appearance in Lynch's Blue Velvet, probably still soundtracks some people's nightmares twenty-something years later).

One central conceit of the collection was the doubled jacket, as in a lush shearling that trailed an attached leather parka like a tail, or a jacket that had a puffa vest built into it. One suit left its vest dangling in back. It was part of an ensemble—jacket, pants, shirt, and dangling puffa—in a flaming vermilion the polar opposite of the somber shades that otherwise dominated proceedings. The show notes called it Motel Red. And the splits just kept on coming.

A Motel Red blouson unzipped to reveal a peek of quilted black leather (Lynch's motels concealed dark secrets, too). The footwear was schizophrenia in a shoe. And the final evening jacket in dusty black dévoré velvet looked well and truly worn in, almost Amish in its sobriety, bar the sprinkle of sequins that added a sparkle of sin. It was the last flicker of light in a suitably strange parade.

source: Style.com/

Ermenegildo Zegna Fall/Winter 2011-2012

Layered with tender love and care, Ermenegildo Zegna’s man made a sound impression with the house’s signature strength in craftsmanship. Piecing together tweed and houndstooth, tradition met the combative nature of the future with fitted looks, complete with belted holsters. No doubt outfitting fall’s hero, orange, red and burgundy added a pleasant touch to fantastically belted numbers that felt altogether masculine, while resonating a soft quality to be admired.

My favorite looks :

Tim Blanks review

To inaugurate its second century, Ermenegildo Zegna looked East, to China, the market that is likely to dominate the company's future. And, in concert with such a prospect, the presentation was a high-tech green-screen extravaganza, orchestrated by James Lima, a visual consultant on Avatar.

"In the Mood for China," read the on-screen pre-show title. But the soundtrack was the saturated melancholy of Kar Wai Wong's In the Mood for Love, and it was the romance of the past that dominated the collection. Like Marco Polo, the first Italian to make it to Asia seven centuries ago, the new Zegna man was a traveler in search of the exotic.

The visual cue for the collection was a centuries-old scroll that depicts life in China during the period when Polo arrived. Its ornate, gilded design was duplicated on shirts, scarves, lapels, jacket linings, the runway, and even the jacquard that covered the cushions in the show space. And the Zegna clothes were a complement in the sense that they evoked the wardrobe of the kind of explorer who might devote his life to the discovery of such a scroll. It wasn't only the obvious Indiana Jones things, like the belted jackets or the footwear or the leather pouches or the rugged outerwear. It was also the feeling of casual connoisseurship that underpinned the luscious tweeds, checks, and leathers.

An evening finale integrated east and west, with Chinese red and gold accenting tuxedos. Again, the mood was romantic, more Shanghai in the 1930's than the 2010's. But surely that's the spirit fashion should bring to the juggernaut collision of Occident and Orient.

source: Style.com

Costume National Fall/Winter 2011-2012

I love the second combination...

Looking ahead to fall/winter 2011-2012, Costume National masters the beauty of simplicity. Honing in on suiting, outerwear and fine knits, the label turns out a dark wardrobe with autumn hued accents for an accessible yet chic approach to the new season. Altogether, while dynamic tailoring made for a striking uniform of suits, knits of mohair added the special final touch, highlighting stripes and irregular shapes for a distinctive collection trademark come next fall.

My favorite looks:

 Tim Blanks review

On the mood board for Ennio Capasa's new collection was a photo of James Chance, the New York no-waver who combined the style of Frank Sinatra with the attitude of Johnny Rotten. In other words, the perfect poster boy for Capasa's theme: rebel tailoring. The designer took a scalpel—or rather, a laser—to menswear classics like the black trench composed of three layers of fabric that, when laser-cut, left a striking rim of red thread as a graphic outline against the black. Other hems were left raw and singed by the laser's kiss.

Capasa is mesmerized by experimental techniques. He dispensed with stitched seams in favor of heat-sealed bonding, and sliced and diced clothes together. That meant the wool sleeves of a loden coat were replaced by khaki leather, while quilted motocross detailing was hybridized into a cardigan. And the designer did away with shirts and ties altogether in favor of punky striped mohair sweaters.

The rawness and urgency worked wonders for the collection, which has lately felt like it was drifting a little too far from Costume National's original appeal. Take the tuxedo jacket on today's runway: A staple of the house, it was reconfigured here in knit with a black leather lapel and modeled by Capasa's son. In March, the designer launches his new venture EEQUAL—120 stores in collaboration with Italy's Gruppo Coin. Selling eight collections a year, it will be, he says, "democratic," i.e., something along the Uniqlo model. So maybe this Costume collection could be seen as a forerunner for the cross-generational action to come.

source: Style.com/

Trussardi 1911 Fall/Winter 2011-2012

This is the first collection of season Fall/Winter 2011/2012 and i like very very much!!! In this collection meet more black ,white ,brown and leather...



My favorite looks:

Tim Blanks review

"Dante Trussardi went into business 100 years ago making leather gloves, and his skill with skins was such that he soon counted the crowned heads (and hands) of Europe as clients. Trussardi 1911 is still very much a family affair—Dante's great-granddaughter Beatrice is now in charge—but it was current creative director Milan Vukmirovic who decided to mark the centenary with a show that celebrated leather in every possible permutation, plus some that seemed impossible. Take a parka in a camo-printed leather so fine it was almost as translucent as nylon. Or a white cotton tee that was actually chamois leather. In fact, there was nothing in the collection that wasn't leather, from the corduroy-look poncho to the athleticwear to the black suede tux with the satin-look lapel. The parade of head-to-toe hides succeeded best as a salute to a century of Trussardi's extraordinary expertise, rather than as an incitement to don a second skin. Vukmirovic himself saw it as a punctuation point, cleaning the slate for the future. The head-scratchers like the paper-thin leather camo were eye-catching, but reassuringly, it was the more "ordinary" pieces that pointed to that future. Cue a parka in glistening black pony.

The Trussardi show was billed as the Main Event at Pitti. The evening celebrated not only fashion, but also the company's commitment to the best of everything else Italy has to offer. The Stazione Leopolda, the show venue, hosted an exhibition of quite startling works from the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi's collection of contemporary art. And Andrea Berton, the chef at the Trussardis' two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Milan, prepared an anniversary dinner after the show. A little fashion, a little art, a little food, all against the high Renaissance backdrop of Florence…Pitti it's over so soon."


source: Style