Milan Fashion Week Menswear SS15 (Day 1 and 2)

We all know that Milan is known for being outstanding in fashion. It is the home to the likes of classics such as Armani, Prada and Dolce and Gabbana. On Saturday 21st June, Day 1 we seen the likes of Versace, Neil Barrett, Zegna and Philipp Plein, present the Spring and Summer 2015 collections. All in all great shows, but personally my favourite was Neil Barrett. On Day 2, we witnessed my favourite designer in Milan and that is Vivienne Westwood, and I would love nothing more than Westwood to return home to London. Anyway, let's now begin with the blog post.

Neil Barrett

Honestly, I loved the latest Neil Barrett collection, it was subtle, bright at times, it was disciplined, it referenced modernism (love) and it heavily featured neoprene as the main source of material, it was amazing! An obvious statement the collection made was male beauty, and it perfectly balanced out having aspects of both old and new, which is one of the many reasons why I loved the show so much. As you may have guessed my favourite pieces were the ones made from neoprene, the sweatshirts and bomber jackets, especially in yellow and with slightly volumised sleeve, you've probably guessed the one by now. You perhaps already know, that I love print, being an art student and that, so I also really loved the distorted face of Michalangilo, I think it was anyway, because I also remember reading that the designer based a lot of the collection as a "tribute to Italy or that type of thing" finally what I loved was later on in the collection when cleverly, lines morphed into a camouflage. After seeing a lot of retro ideas at LC:M which don't get me wrong I adored, it was just nice to see a different approach to SS15 with more modern garments and techniques used. Favourite looks...

Versace

Versace has become that collection to me that I don't hate nor love, and I don't convey much emotion towards it because honesty I'm a little tired of seeing the same thing over and over. The bright shiny colours, the two piece suits with no top or shirt underneath, the heavy take on jewellery and that Versace monogram used on the waistband every season. And if you read this Donatella, listen to me and change it up a bit. Haha! There's very little I have to say about this collection, and I don't tend to like collections that rely heavily upon presenting suits, for the majority of a collection, I think out of 49 looks, 15/16 looks were suits, I much prefer a mix as I'm sure others will agree? There were some things I enjoyed, the basic garments, like the long sleeve t-shirts and the short sleeve shirts and it ended there. Sorry for my minor rant and here are my favourite looks below.

Vivienne Westwood

Without doubt my favourite menswear show in Milan, and specifically my favourite Vivienne Westwood MAN collection in about three years. Like all of the Westood shows, it was fun and the designs were exceptional but more to the point, it always spreads a vital message. In the past we've seen Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler broadcast their views on Climate Revolution, but this season it was all about the cruelty of Animal Farming. We even seen pig noses on some of the models, some models wore straw top hats and classic VW tarten was enhanced by it being blended into some sort of 80s pixelated video arcade game, take Tetris for example. Like we've seen before, tailoring remained with a relaxed vibe, which again like we've seen before gives the show an injection of romance. The garments may have been frayed and tattered, but they were honestly the best clothes I've seen throughout all of Milan fashion week so far (biased) and I totally agree with what Andreas had to say after the show "I'm a vegetarian and I don't tell people not to eat meat but cutting down is not bad. One day a week makes a big difference, environmentally and even health-wise. The way we keep animals is awful" I love this, mainly because he's being true, supportive, real and considerate all rolled up into one word, leave a comment below on what this word could be? And he's not asking for a great deal lets be honest, I may even try and do this myself and why not give it a go yourself? Anyway let's get back to the show, and my favourite looks, well there were so many, I loved the almost translucent jumper, the one in which you can see the models eagle chest tattoo beneath, the tarten is always different from the last time it was used so I really like it when that happens, I loved the bold prints about half way through, and what looks like a t-shirt with the semi-detached sleeves in blue and red stripes I want! And that jungle print is it? With the red sketches drawn over it, looked great and the oversized 'CLIMATE' t-shirt I love the way it gets updated every season it's used in, to fit with the rest of the current collection. Overall, a nothing short of perfect show...my favourite pieces from the collection featured below.

Once again I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who reads my blog...you know who you are haha (creepy eyes) moving on, yeah I would like to thank you all and all of you are the reason why I post on my blog as often as I can, which now I've finished college should hopefully be once or twice a week, so hopefully I can keep to this promise! Check back tomorrow for day 3 review of Milan Fashion Week Menswear.

xxx