Published: Wednesday June 24, 2009 MYT 8:06:00 AM
Designers stick to the city next summer
MILAN (AP) - 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 gray and beige palette with flashes of color 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 color, beading was another fashion ploy used in many of the shows to spiff up the staid classic styles.
In general next year's summer silhouette is V-shaped with a generous jacket and slim trousers. The suits come with shirt and skinny tie, but can also be paired with a fancy T-shirt. A vest can accompany the suit or be worn on its own over a pair of casual pants.
In the sportswear department, designers fashion winter styles such as trench coats and anoraks in super lightweight or perforated fabric. Bermuda shorts show up everywhere, but there are few of the jackets and shorts combination that were all the rage several seasons ago.
Along with flashes of color dipped in the urban palette, designers offer black and white as classic summer shades.
The favorite footwear is classic leather lace-ups and loafers worn strictly without socks, except at Emporio, where Armani made a point of pairing socks and shoes with shorts.
Next summer marks the return of the good old tennis court sneaker, raised to new fashion heights in slithery snake skin.
On the outside, the 2010 summer male is clean-cut and shaven, with wisps of jelled hair and 1950's ducktails the only signs of rebellion. However, when they took their shirts off, some of the models sported enormous tattoos stretched across their muscular torsos.
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