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Milan fashion designers say: ‘Go ahead and relax’

Sportswear-inspired menswear aims for cool looks, comfort

The Columbian
Published: June 26, 2014, 5:00pm
3 Photos
A wide variety of jackets were part of Milan Fashion Week, including this creation for Giorgio Armani menu2019s Spring-Summer 2015 collection.
A wide variety of jackets were part of Milan Fashion Week, including this creation for Giorgio Armani menu2019s Spring-Summer 2015 collection. Photo Gallery

MILAN — Go ahead and relax: Next season’s menswear fashion will be easy to wear and at times even athletic without requiring, or necessarily even inspiring, actual exertion on the part of the wearer.

Sportswear has inspired many looks showing up on the Milan runway during Milan Fashion Week this week. Jackets are a mainstay and run the gamut from longer overcoats to short bombers. Trousers are just as easily pleated as cropped and close-fitting. Bermudas are the shorts of choice.

Favorite shoes are sturdy sandals, snug, sure-footed slip-ons and high-top sneakers. Still, this being luxury fashion, the outfits are intended for urban exposure and not rugged adventure.

At Prada, nothing says summer like classic denim looks and an azure blue swimming pool.

Miuccia Prada kept the elements simple, from the color palate of blue, brown, dark green and beige, to the clean lines of the jackets, trench coats and blazers. Most looks were finished with a simple, light blue shirt — reflecting the azure waters of a swimming pool with white columns created by Rem Koolhaas’ architecture firm at the center of the showroom.

• ITALIAN TAILORING DECONSTRUCTED:

The relaxed silhouette of the Salvatore Ferragamo menswear collection for next summer seems almost to deny the traditional tailoring that created it.

Massimiliano Giornetti defined the silhouette as “light” and “deconstructed,” and said he used fine Italian fabrics as the starting point for his inspiration.

The collection centers on sportswear, with a variety of jackets from longer overcoats, double-breasted jackets that are slightly cropped, short belted blazers and blousons that function as a baseball jacket. They are worn with double pleated trousers or loose-fitting Bermudas.

• RECLAIMED TREASURES:

Bottega Veneta’s lovingly distressed looks are like old treasures rediscovered.

The looks have a relaxed feel, from the loose-fitting sweaters that drape the body casually, to crinkled linen suits with pants that gather at the knee as if pushed up to wade into the surf.

Designer Tomas Maier employs various kinds of stitching to build the appearance of natural wear-and-tear into the architecture of the pieces, including frayed elbows. Athletic wear is soft, with comfortable leggings and wide-legged shorts.

• MISSONI:

Angela Missoni has created looks with a Bohemian traveler in mind, taking inspiration from northern African patterns and silhouettes while maintaining a naturalistic color palette: saffron to gold, lavender to sapphire.

One of the collection’s mainstays is a tribal tunic with a pointy hood. As usual, Missoni’s knitwear lends itself to layering, which fits the traveler’s logic, with gilets worn unbuttoned beneath loose open jackets. The looks are paired with straight trousers, also in corduroy, and Bermuda shorts.

• CALVIN KLEIN:

Calvin Klein designer Italo Zucchelli’s collection for next summer could be called, “A study in beige.”

Zucchelli gives pale skin tone his full embrace, with monotone outfits ranging from racing back T-shirts with trousers to double-breasted jackets with relaxed shorts.

• MARNI:

The looks are decidedly bold, with color blocks and large florals commanding attention from a distance. Despite the growing emphasis on suits, there are plenty of play clothes, like boxy sweatshirts out of bonded jersey and color-block tunics.

The must-have accessory: A slim leather pouch resembling a festival pass, good for anything from a subway ticket to a credit card for a night out.

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