MILAN – Second lines, D&G and Emporio Armani closed the four days of menswear preview showings for the spring-summer 2010, and summed up the current “all business” fashion mood. Returning to the urban styles which made them famous, Italian designers are putting men back into suits and ties after many a season of wardrobes for globe-trotting vacationers. Hit hard by the current economic crisis they know that a good suit is a good sell. “The collection is very ‘city smart,’ ” Giorgio Armani said of his much applauded show Tuesday, which combined classic cotton suits with intricately knit pullovers and workout stretch pants. The group of bikers who rode down the runway at the end of the show underlined the contemporary city feel of the collection.
Like many of the over 50 top names in Italian fashion who showed this round, Armani livened up his basic grey and beige palette with flashes of colour including bright red and orange which he used for suits and sweaters alike. Also Tuesday designing duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, presented their own take on urban fashion for the younger set – a contemporary version of Midnight Cowboy. The D&G cowboy wears distressed jeans and Camperos boots with a gold buttoned blazer or velvet tuxedo jacket, but he also likes the showy feel of a beaded jeans jacket. Like the flashes of colour, beading was another fashion ploy used in many of the shows to spiff up the staid classic styles.
