July 3, 2014
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Blend of
TrendsThe European spring runways were awash
with luxe loungewear, the return of denim and
a wintry summer. For more, see pages
MW2 and MW3.FLUID TAILORING
Giorgio ArmaniSTRIPES
Dior Homme
LUXE LOUNGEWEAR
Paul Smith
RUNWAY DENIMJunya Watanabe
STREETWEAR LAYERS
Casely-Hayford
WINTRY SPRING
Neil Barrett
Men’s WeekWWD THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014MW2
Tom Ford
Y-3 Lanvin
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Trending FastThe return of runway denim, graphic summer stripes and a loungewear lifestyle are
some of the trends that dominated the European runways for spring. — ALEX BADIA
RUNWAY DENIM
FLUID TAILORING
SUMMER STRIPES
Christophe Lemaire Prada
Yohji Yamamoto
Burberry Prorsum Miharayasuhiro
CornelianiPorts 1961
Ann Demeulemeester Marni
Jonathan Saunders Gucci Juun.J Kolor
Emporio Armani
Ermenegildo Zegna Couture
J.W. Anderson
Men’s Week WWD THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014 MW3
Bottega Veneta
LUXE LOUNGEWEAR
STREETWEAR LAYERING
WINTRY SPRING
Dries Van Noten
Haider Ackermann
Astrid Andersen Valentino
Canali
Moncler Gamme
BleuLouis Vuitton
Sacai
Kris Van Assche
Calvin Klein Collection
Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci No. 21 KTZ
Nicomede Talavera for Man
James Long
Alexander Wang
FOR MORE TRENDS, SEE
WWD.com/menswear-news.
Accordingly, the concept of sea-sons is blurring.
“Many of the shows did not look particularly ‘springy,’ and we’ve noticed that for our design-er customer, it is not about dress-ing for a specific season,” said Jeffrey Kalinsky, vice president and designer fashion director at Nordstrom. “The designer custom-er will buy the best, most special pieces year-round regardless of when they deliver.”
Shows that garnered plaudits in-cluded Valentino, Dries Van Noten, Junya Watanabe, Rick Owens, Saint Laurent and Raf Simons.
Key trends for the season in-cluded fuller proportions and fluid shapes; lightweight outerwear; bomber jackets; pleated and wide-leg pants; Bermuda shorts; sneakers, and elements of athletic apparel.
“In terms of silhouettes, shirts are getting longer, pants shorter. The looks are fuller and there are stronger synergies between tailor-ing and sportswear, only now it’s becoming one complete look. Guys can mix and match more,” said Josh Peskowitz, men’s fashion di-rector at Bloomingdale’s.
Stephen Ayres, head of fashion buying and merchandising at Liberty in London, said the more relaxed ap-proach to dressing seen on the catwalks mirrors the way the store’s male customers are shopping.
“We planned our blazers and tailoring categories down and they have performed in line with this. For us, the bomber in smarter fabrics has replaced the blazer for a more ca-sual sartorial aesthetic. We will take this approach again for next season
and will be backing softer pieces across all categories,” he said.
Bruce Pask, men’s fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman,
singled out collections by Van Noten, Watanabe and Alessandro Sartori at Berluti.
“The new sneaker collection he introduced showcased the arti-sanal details of their expertly craft-
ed shoes and was the perfect match for the casual atmosphere of the collection,” Pask said of Berluti.
Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director at Neiman Marcus, was upbeat about Saint Laurent, Valentino, Berluti and newcomer Cifonelli. The key trends for him were summer trenches; a spice palette with saf-fron and dark sages; suede jackets, and pleated pants.
“Finally, footwear, footwear, foot-wear. Sneakers continue to be an ex-plosive category, there is real growth opportunity there and designers feed into that. Sneakers had cleaner profiles this season and fewer em-bellishments. But we also loved the luxe version of espadrilles, in suede for instance,” he commented.
Adrian Ward-Rees, men’s wear gmm and fashion director for Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, said he in-creased his budgets for Paris and is excited about the emergence of new brands such as Song for the Mute and Devoa.
“There is an elegance to the underground in Paris, which is just not found in any other mar-ket,” Ward-Rees said, referring to emerging talent from Japan and brands beyond the runways. “The new talent gets represented in such an elevated way that it trans-forms the perception of what fash-ion should be about.”
Tiziana Cardini, fashion director at La Rinascente in Milan, singled out Gosha Rubchinskiy, an artist-skater — and Comme des Garçons protégé — with a polished, refined street-inspired look. Overall, the season was more about individual-ity of vision than trends, she noted.
“[There’s] an interesting ‘mor-phing’ of the technical into the tai-
lored, the sporty into the military, the activewear into the sartorial,” Cardini said.
Karen Vernet, gmm of men’s apparel, homewares and private label at Printemps in Paris, said she would be stocking up on bomb-er jackets, sneakers, backpacks, T-shirts and Bermuda shorts. She noted that Jonathan Anderson’s first collection for Loewe was “something very new with its luxu-ry androgynous silhouette.”
Jennifer Cuvillier, style director at Le Bon Marché in Paris, noted an abundance of style influences ranging from rock music to art, street style, surfing and home-wares. “The pastel color palette and touches of blossom prints or appliqué bring a freshness into the collections. We feel very confident about this season,” she said.
Like many buyers, Darren Skey, buying and merchandising manager for men’s wear at Harvey Nichols in London, had high praise for Van Noten, the subject of a retrospec-tive at Les Arts Décoratifs that has been extended until November.
“Dries Van Noten produced a stunning collection,” said Skey, who noted its “fluid, flowing shapes and beautifully embroidered jack-ets, including an amazing silk bomber embroidered with an eagle and rising sun on the back.
“The fuller silhouette we have been seeing in both Milan and Paris is looking very fresh and modern. Wooyoungmi had a beau-tiful show that encapsulated this very well,” said Steven Cook, se-nior vice president, buying and merchandising at Toronto-based Holt Renfrew. “The footwear cat-egory, and sneakers in particular, is looking very good,” he added,
singling out Buscemi as a standout.Cook also cited a wealth of
“advanced sportswear. There was plenty to choose from in graphic sweatshirts, T-shirts, bomber jack-ets and sport-inspired trousers.”
Men’s WeekMW4 WWD THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014
{Continued from page one}
Man of THE WEEK
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SAM SMITH: B
British pop singer Sam Smith might have a best-selling album, but his young Boy George looks could easily open the door to more creative fashion choices. He definitely should go for more risks than the mid-Nineties Oasis fashion look he’s been channeling lately. Boringgg....
The flat cross earrings work well; they are edgy enough without adding anything else.
The pajama-inspired shirt is right on trend for spring 2015.
Paris Buyers Praise Creativity
He could benefit from a five o’clock shadow to harden
his jawline and hide the double chin.
Although the Baracuta jacket is
an iconic British garment, here it looks
too sporty. A navy silky bomber would
look more glam.
A pair of black skinny jeans can be a man’s best friend
and also are the sleeker choice.
For men, plucking eyebrows is like playing with fire —
stay away from it.
The beaten-up monk-strap shoes
add heritage and the sensitive touch his
songs are known for.
The Fifties pompadour style works well with his features by elongating the face and also giving him a rockabilly sensibility.
by CONSTANCE DROGANES
TORONTO — Toronto is about to host the eighth fashion week in the world devoted exclusively to men’s wear.
Following in the footsteps of London, Paris, Milan, Florence, Los Angeles, Singapore and Vancouver, Toronto Official Men’s Fashion Week — or TOM as it has been dubbed by organizers — will make its debut at the city’s Evergreen Brick Works from Aug. 12 to 14.
The launch comes after a year of planning and years of watch-ing men’s wear designers strug-gle to fit into Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week, which spotlights the latest spring and fall collections for women.
“The time had come for men’s wear to have its own spotlight in this city,” said TOM founder and executive director Jeff Rustia.
“Toronto is such an internation-al city. Frankly, its surprising that Toronto didn’t have a stand-alone men’s wear event up and running years ago,” Rustia said.
Twenty-five established and emerging designers will display their spring 2015 collections at the inaugural event from the nonprofit organization, including Toronto-based Christopher Bates, Farley Chatto and Sons of Ódin and Montreal’s Pedram Karimi.
TOM’s lineup includes an in-ternational spotlight on men’s wear designers, the latest in suit design and an Avant Garde series highlighting designers who are re-
defining the industry.Five finalists will also vie
for TOM’s $10,000 Emerging Menswear Designer Award. Their collections will be shown in the event finale on Aug. 14.
“I want TOM to become part of Canada’s fashion landscape and the world scene,” said Rustia. “Look at London. In just three years, London’s men’s fashion week has attracted the interest of hundreds of department stores. It involves art exhibits and other peripheral events that support the city. That’s what I want to achieve in Toronto with TOM.”
TOM’s launch comes at a time when stores like Holt Renfrew are fine-tuning their business to address the needs of male con-sumers — particularly Millennial men, the next burgeoning market for retailers. Indeed, in March, Holt Renfrew confirmed that it will create a stand-alone luxury men’s shop located at 100 Bloor Street West, down the street from its flagship.
“Globally speaking, the men’s wear industry generated $400 bil-lion in 2013. That boom has a lot to do with the emergence of the Millennial man on the shopping scene,” said Rustia. “This new consumer cares about how he looks. We believe TOM can play a vital role in helping Millennials access the fashion they want and in giving men’s wear designers and male models from across North and South America the at-tention they deserve.”
Toronto Men’s Week Set
FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE
WWD.com/menswear-news.
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Dries Van NotenSaint
Laurent