Between art and style. “Artisan” and “artist”. Both come from the latin “Ars” (art) even if they have different meanings. The artist is the person that handles fine arts like painting, sculpture, music, acting. The artisan is the person that mechanically adopt one of the arts or that practices crafts that require experience and manual skills. Fashion designers are artisans of art and they’re not artists in the strict sense: they often take inspiration from art for their collections. Bear in mind this slight difference, even if there are (a few) fashion creations with a very high lever of artistic taste. Reworked version of a Self-Portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti, from a print of the 19th century by Alphonse Francois.

Those intermittent trends. Every season has its trends, some that strengthen or renovate themselves consecutively, others that come back from a remote past, others that vanish. Fashion – for its own definition – never keeps still; until the beginning of 2000, when a colour or a certain fabric, or some shapes left the scene, we knew that we wouldn’t have seen them for a long time. Today things have changed. For example the “military” never disappear totally: we always find it, scattered and fragmented, maybe just in a detail. Velvet, in particular smooth, is another suitable example: we find it intermittently; in some seasons is one of the undisputed protagonists, in others, instead, stays on the bench. Not wholly, however:  Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana never omit some smooth velvet outfits; in next winter’s collections, for example, they’ve suggested it in black, in “evening” variations. But its beauty- that stays in sheen of fabric – is much more intensified when it’s dyed in underbrush or red shades. On stands of vintage markets we can find dozens of velvet jackets and coats, even shirts: the one in the picture is twenty years old, but it’s incredibly up-to-date and mesh with current fashion. Picture by Danilo Russo, from Harper’s Bazaar Uomo 1994. Clothes by Dries Van Noten.

CERRUTI 1881

Eleganza Vera. In questa collezione ho visto qualcosa di praticamente introvabile: rigore e purezza che si fondono con uno stile “vivo”, vero, autenticamente e oggettivamente Elegante. Se esistesse l’alta moda anche nel menswear, con questa sfilata, Cerruti11881 meriterebbe di farne parte.

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

Una collezione volutamente molto semplice  e vendibile, arricchita grazie ad uno styling giocato sulle sovrapposizioni. Il fit sembra più morbido del solito.

BERLUTI

L’impatto é brillante e vivace; la collezione rimarca un concetto di lusso evidente, fatto di tessuti e pellami particolarmente eccellenti.

GIVENCHY

Una parte delle stampe fa riferimento agli strumenti di una sala di incisione anni ’70.  Sintetizzatori, bobine per nastri e manopole colorati,   cosi come, altrettanto vivaci,  sono le tinte delle righe orizzontali:  gli sfondi sono bianco ottico. Le atmosfere dark lasciano – finalmente – spazio ad una vena ottimista e solare, fatta di capi che segnano un’epoca.

KENZO

La sfilata presenta un prodotto fresco e giovanile; l’anima della collezione é sport-fashion.

DIOR HOMME

Sembra chiaro che il gusto di Dior Homme é fortemente legato al minimalismo. Le lane fredde e i pattern geometrici accentuano la linearità della collezione, esasperando un’idea di uomo in contro-tendenza.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Tanti fiori, stampati, ricamati o dipinti su cotoni leggeri o sulla seta, da spezzare con la tinta unita in un gioco di lunghezze  e strati tra spolverini e bermuda.

Some colors are timeless and they never go out of fashion. I’m not talking about white, protagonist of this week’s photo. In fact white is not even a color, it also doesn’t have black’s (overrated?) reputation, because you know what they say “you can’t go wrong wearing black”. This picture is from an Harper’s Bazaar Uomo of 1994, it shows how the reverberation of light (already emphasized by a purposely bright background)has been softened by the use of two camel nuances for the sweater, one stronger than the other. In this case, shades can help mitigate the “total white” effect, an annoying 80s peculiarity which periodically comes back being chosen by designers with recognized intellectual creative skills. The color identified as camel (which is a shade of brown-beige) instead it’s simply timeless, is one of men’s favourite colors and is highly rated anytime brought back by fashion designers as over the last couple of years; Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Zegna and Valentino have built entire collections on its transversality.It’s a refined and reassuring fil-rouge that fits every skin tone, from the blond viking through the irish redhead to the mediterranean male. Photo by Mauro Balletti, Atesh is wearing Dries Van Noten and Dolce & Gabbana knitwear.

La stagione in corso, che ha sfilato in passerella a gennaio, è il preludio dell’anno zero: dal prossimo vedremo – attraverso le collezioni primavera/estate che i magazine cominciano a pubblicare nei primi numeri del 2013 – che la moda uomo ha davvero voltato pagina. I primi dieci anni del 2000 sono stati di collaudo: da oggi si può parlare di coerenza stilistica, sebbene ogni maison abbia presentato e prodotto vestiti così diversi da azzerare completamente il vecchio concetto di macro tendenza. Tuttavia, in questo mix di proposte disparate e apparentemente lontane tra di loro, c’è uno slancio comune verso il futuro come non si vedeva  da più di vent’anni. Lo styling di queste foto di backstage, scattate durante un servizio fotografico in uscita a dicembre con abiti e accessori in vendita adesso, dimostra e anticipa un estro che appartiene ad una nuova era, fondata – speriamo – sul liberalismo e sulla bellezza.

This current season, (last january’s fashion shows) is a prelude to the year zero: by the next one we’ll notice -through the next S/S collections and by what magazines will publish by the very first issues of 2013- that menswear has really turned the page.The first ten years of 2000s have been a test. We can finally talk about stylistic coherence, although every maison has been introducing and producing pieces so very different from one another that the old concept of macro-trend has been reset. However, within the mix of suggestions which seem to be apparently so different and far from each other, there is such a strong push for the future as we haven’t seen one in more than 20 years.This backstage pictures has been taken during a fashion shoot that is going to be published in december, with accessories and clothes that are for sale right now, the styling discloses and reveals an inspiration which belongs to a new era, established -let’s hope so- on liberalism and beauty.

Total look Prada