Vogue Hommes International Spring/Summer 2011 | James Franco by Terry Richardson

Review:

California Dream (9p.)
Ph: Paul Jasmin
St: Darcy Backlar
Model : Simon Nessman

Where Angels Tread (9p.)
Ph: Sebastian Kim
St: Francesco Cominelli
Models: Jako Wiechmann

Day Off (8p.)
Ph: Kacper Kasprzyk
St: Azza Yousif
Model : Niels Schneider

Irresistible (10p.)
Ph: Terry Richardson
St: Mel Ottenberg
Model : James Franco

Shore Leave (14p.) 

Ph: Glen Luchford 

St: Anastasia Barbieri 

Model : Clément Chabernaud

The Heartbreak Club (16p.)
Ph: Bruce Weber
St: Deborah Watson
Models : tons...

The Scream (14p.)
Ph: Willy Vanderperre
St: Panos Yiapanis
Model : Jonathan Marquez

Portraits (10p.)
Ph: Paolo Roversi
St: Jacob K.
Models : ?

Pacific Skipper (16p.)
Ph: Jack Pierson
St: Anastasia Barbieri
Model : David Gandy

Line Of Duty (10p.)
Ph: Terry Richardson
St: Emmanuelle Alt
Model : Werner Schreyer

Trench Coat Guide

The Art Of The Trench Coat

OK, I admit it; I am officially bored of winter. Those late summer/mild autumn days I spent babbling on about how I couldn’t wait until I was able to immerse myself in heavy layering and just how eager I was to break out the newly acquired outerwear, well, they truly are a very distant memory. I am openly and eagerly willing spring to hurry the hell up, and much to my delight, a very slight increase in recent temperatures means that I can certainly envision that brighter future at the end of this long wintery tunnel. I am now in fact getting so impatient that I’m already ruthlessly purchasing with spring/summer 2011 at the forefront of my mind, and at the top of my shopping to-do list, I must update my outerwear.

The Trench Coat is without a doubt one of my favourite garments within menswear fashion. Practical, flattering, smart, chic, timeless, versatile, accessible – need I continue? As I am sure you are already aware, trench coats come in great deal of different textures and fabrics, but in keeping with the tone of all things spring, today my article is concentrated more towards the classic cotton styles.


Cut & Style

Ok, so the double-breasted trench coat. Great for adding a more classic feel to your outfits, they look extremely smart and can also be a great tool to use for those who wish to add a bit of extra bulk to their upper torso. But of course, that also then means that they aren’t always quite as well suited to the slightly fuller man. A single-breasted style – which probably comes more under the title of Macintosh – will be a much greater aid in lengthening the torso, drawing the eye downwards as opposed to across. Wear the coat unbuttoned from the sternum area and fold the collar down and out to create a V-shaped neckline that will lengthen your neck and add width across your shoulders. A single-breasted style will also fall a lot cleaner if you choose to wear the trench open.
The waist belt on a trench is an absolute godsend. When worn tied into a effortlessly home-made knot, not only will it help to break up the torso it will also nip in that waist, therefore accentuating the shoulders and giving the impression of that perfect triangular shape we are all told to strive for. Epaulettes on the shoulders are great for giving a more structured, stronger shoulder and of course, portraying that military trend that is looking to stay with us until the end of time.
As for the length of the coat, I personally wouldn’t advise any man under the 6ft mark to wear a trench that finished far below their knees, and although a trench coat can be just as easily worked into both smart and casual outfits, baggy trousers/jeans just don’t quite fit that slim-line, sharp look that we have just created. Sleeve length is somewhat down to personal preference but I favour them sitting as the sleeve of my blazer would, just above the wrist bone. If people can see your under-layers poking out through your sleeves or maybe even a cheeky glimpse of watch, well, that’s just perfect!

Colour

For a staple trench coat that will work with both a smart/smart casual/casual looks, my number one choice in terms of colour would be a navy blue every time. It doesn’t look quite as formal as a black trench does and isn’t half as contrasting against other colour. Brown shoes, black shoes, jeans, chinos, trousers, city shorts… they all work perfectly.
My second choice would be a neutral tone such as a stone, camel, khaki or a light brown. If wearing louder colours/prints as a base layer, a trench of any of the above tones will help to re-neutralise the outfit. The only thing to be slightly weary of when choosing lighter tones is to avoid washing yourself out (much like grey does) – oh, avoid grey at the moment by the way. If of a lighter skin tone, opt for a slighter stronger, deeper stone or camel colour in order to add a bit of contrast against your skin tone.
Bold colours such as electric blues, burgundy reds and forest greens will add a much-needed burst of colourful energy into yours outfits during these final winter months. This possibly isn’t the route to go down however if you are looking for a staple trench, but if you are in fact looking to add to an already established collection, now is the time to take the leap my friend.

Modifications

With a garment such as a trench coat, I believe it is worth spending just that little bit extra – or in some cases a lot extra – for quality. However, realistically not all of us are in a financial position to be splashing out on Paul Smith trench coats and Aquascutum macs as we please, and so turn to our local high street retailers for guidance.
For those of you like myself, who watch the Burberry shows every season sighing in bitter jealousy at a collection of trench coats that I will possibly never be able to afford, don’t give up all hope just yet, as there are a few little tricks we can pull to turn that high street trench into your very own high fashion creation.
Trick 1: Change your buttons. A massive give away that most high street pieces are in fact high street, are those poor quality, plastered on every garment, plastic buttons. Replace them with a whole new set of vintage wooden buttons and your final garment will be almost unrecognisable from that basic Zara trench it once was.
Oh, that reminds me actually. Trick 1 Part b: Learn to sew on a button. It’s really rather easy once you’ve attempted it a couple of times and will save you a fortune in tailoring expenses.





Trick 2: Update your lining. In exactly the same way that a fully lined blazer looks that ever much more the finished article than one that is unlined. Firstly make sure you know of a good tailor that is capable of re-lining coats, next take a trip to any good quality fabric shop and simply choose the cloth that you can not live without. Also, if you often tend to wear the collar of your trench stood up then you might even want to consider buying a bit of extra material to add a strip to the back of the collar? Just a thought.

Trick 3: Vary your belt. Instead of sticking to that matching material belt that comes along with your coat, try adding a thick leather jeans belt instead. I have even seen men rocking – and successfully pulling off – patterned scarves and even pieces of rope hooked through those belt loops. I am fully aware that this one won’t be a tip suited to all as it is sometimes deemed to be too ‘girly’, however, it really can look great.
Of course there are a number of other ways to personalise your outerwear, adding brooches/badges, customising the epaulettes etc. But by simply changing your buttons and adding a completely different lining to your £70 Topman trench coat, the chances of someone else having that exact trench, with that exact lining, with those exact buttons drastically reduce to near impossible – you now own a one-off piece.

source

Burberry Prorsum Fall/Winter 2011-2012 Menswear

Approaching the fall/winter 2011-2012 season with endless color and exaggerated proportions, Burberry Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey looked to a coat for all seasons. Creating his very own weather boy, Bailey’s outerwear stole the show as usual. Embracing the unexpected, the 60′s provided the inspiration for slick raincoats, quilted finishes and a rainbow of checks. Gathering pleats and reworking tweed, Bailey once again delivered an easily cool showing for a timeless label.

Tim Blanks review

There is, in case you haven't noticed, a royal wedding about to go down in London, so it was tempting to extract regal references from Christopher Bailey's latest collection for the most heritage-based of all English fashion companies. The neat little coats were the sort of thing young princes might have sported in days gone by, and the ermine-look fur trim had obvious royal connotations, even it was in fact something called "jaguar mink." But the real backstory was both bigger—and smaller. Small first. In the bottomless Burberry archives that are such an inspiration to him, Bailey found an ad campaign from the early sixties where every single image was photographed in different weather conditions. And that—cue the big picture—instantly led him along to the current, utterly ga-ga global weather situation.

Bailey is nothing if not focused. He decided on a coat for all seasons as his theme for Fall 2011, and that's exactly what he offered. There were myriad accompanying permutations of skinny pants, suits, and knitwear that was lacquered or cable knit in combo with furry doeskin. But the Main Event was The Coat in weights that were variously suitable for rain or wind or snow. Here's testament to focus—just as with Bailey's aviator jacket collection last Fall, almost every single coat was an object of lust, from the buffalo-check biggie that opened the show to the "jaguar mink" coat that closed it. Bailey used color astutely—an orange duffel, a pea-green military coat—but he also nailed subdued city camels and tweeds (fur-collared for luxe). And he closed his show with a full-on catwalk rainstorm, courtesy of his special-effects team. The only other designer who dared corral the elements was Alexander McQueen. In his own, much more subtle way, Bailey is as daring.

The kicker for the whole event is that every coat is available on Burberry.com until January 23. "Personalizing technology" is Bailey's game plan. "It makes the whole world smaller, more intimate," he said after the show. Sure, it's a spur to sales, but it goes beyond that; Bailey's acknowledgement of the universality of what he's doing is as timely as the inescapability of the climactic conditions that inspired his latest work.

Source: Style.com

Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2011-2012 Menswear

A master of progression, Raf Simons takes the Jil Sander man on a journey from spring’s colorful bursts of color and narrow proportions to boxy shapes and darkness. Throwing in a subtle shift of texture and oversize pocket details, Simons’ knack for refined but simple tailoring gets a powerful kick of subdued quirk for a collection that is undeniably Jil Sander.

 Tim Blanks review

Raf Simons claimed he wanted to go back to the roots of Jil Sander's menswear for Fall. He was thinking about the reduction, the purity, the very specific fabrics, and even the Amish influence on those early days. But ultimately, it was his own take on the elements that constitute "Jil Sander" that determined the nature of the collection.

Intriguingly, Simons designed without a single piece of clothing from the archive in his studio, which is probably why the most immediate cross-reference was his own Spring womenswear for Jil. For his women's show, he talked about "a mille-feuille of color." Here, it was subtly adapted, particularly in the doubled turtlenecks. Pink lined a parka hood, yellow shone from under a swirling charcoal coat. The experimental volumes of the women's clothes were toned down but still implied, for instance, in the caped back of a blouson. And the chunky parkas that cut such a dash last season made a welcome reappearance. So that was the Raf-ness of the show.

The Jil-ness came through in the plain, felted square-cut suits—three buttons, high closing. They were paired with similarly shaded tops and, even when colored broom yellow or cyclamen, they had a distinctly sober air. Simons elaborated on the sobriety by using the quilting of the Amish as the signature detail for jackets, pants, and tops. On the other hand, he injected an ironic note by duplicating the nobility of the handcrafted Amish tradition with the most advanced fabric technology. That's where Raf-ness and Jil-ness reunited—and it felt so good.

source: Style.com/

Dolce & Gabbana Fall/Winter 2011-2012 Menswear

Embracing fiery red and rich furs for their fall/winter 2011-2012 collection, Dolce & Gabbana infused their prized Italian machismo with a youthful zest. Shaking up their usual casting with a variety of faces, the designing duo put on display a myriad of influences. From the classic musical styling of Bryan Ferry to the label’s ongoing fascination with the working man or a spunky take on tomorrow’s scholar, Dolce & Gabbana impressed with velvet, color and an endless amount of charm. Rounding out the collection with pinstripes, braces and wingtips, the label put a cool new spin on the marriage of old and new style motifs.

Click to view Dolce & Gabbana Fla/Winter 2011-2011 RED LOOKS

fur jackets....

Tim Blanks review

There was a brilliant Dries Van Noten show some years back that celebrated Bryan Ferry's early-seventies leopard-clad glamness, but his subsequent career as rock's Most Elegant Man has been a significantly under-exploited inspiration in contemporary menswear. Until today, that is, when Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana made him the launchpad for their latest collection. Ferry's record covers were all over the mood board, his music was all over the show, and there he was on the seasonal "icon" T-shirt. It seemed entirely appropriate, then, that the man himself was front-row center. But the show's theme, Sartoria Eccentrica, actually had much less to do with Ferry's own classic style than the designers' re-tailoring of anything classic, starting at Savile Row, for a much younger audience.

The singer's taste for West End girls is well-documented—the beauteous Amanda Sheppard was at his side today. The clothes on the runway, though, were better suited to East End boys. Low-rise, multi-pocketed pants were slung off skinny suspenders. One model sported Freddy Krueger stripes and a trilby casually tossed back on his head. There was a spiffy edge to a checked, fitted, double-breasted jacket, while cropped, double-vented jackets and those pegged, low-slung pants created a boxy, bubble-butted silhouette that added beef to the already buff models. Add that to the chunky, bovver-ready footwear and these boys were a bit of rough fighters, not lovers. But wasn't Bryan Ferry famously a slave to love?

Domenico and Stefano threw the lovers a bone with a couple of pavé-sequined jackets in pink and black, then they closed the show with their own quintessential march past of black velvet jackets and distressed Dolce denims. Call it glam for a brash, butch new age. As for Ferry's more rarified brand of contemporary glamour? That remains to be explored another day.

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

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