A season defined by the details, AW12 menswear was a great start to the year. Out of the mass of imagery presented from world class designers, 9 times a day for 9 days straight, we’ve selected the haircuts, soundtracks and collections that stuck in our heads the longest.
Click here to see our AW12 Menswear coverage in full.
Text: Elgar Johnson, Sarah Hay, Sean Baker and Sarah Raphael
Photography: Mitchell Sams
Jil Sander was a big highlight, it was the first show I attended in Milan and seemed to set the tone for the following two weeks because it took on one of the big themes for next winter which is this idea of a killer suit. A lot of designers seemed to have thought about professional attire this season and were clearly considering what’s been going on in the world – occupy wall street, economic crisis, financial news taking precedence – and many sent very sharp, almost aggressive suits down the runway, no more so than Raf Simons at Jil Sander. SH
Jil Sander brought back a strong, strict silhouette, and the industry stood to attention. EJ
Hair
There was hair everywhere, not only on the catwalk at Vivienne Westwood (pictured), Diesel Black Gold and Junya Watanabe, but also in the audience. Mostly facial, the bear is back in full force. EJ
Put simply, Prada pulled it off. It was the best end of any show this season, of any show I’ve ever seen, because of that underrated element of surprise. Parading down the catwalk, unannounced, Willem Dafoe, Gary Oldman and Adrien Brody stole the show, stole the limelight, stole our hearts. Miuccia Prada, we can only salute you! SR
A highlight because behind all the prints I could see a really coherent casual menswear collection, it was as if elements of the past few seasons had been honed – the volume and length of the trousers, the shoes, the shoulder line on jackets. DVN is an acquired taste just because he’s not a designer who screams and shouts for attention, so you have to go to him, but once you’re there his whole vibe, especially the quiet luxury, gets very morish. SH
Adrien Sahores
AW12 model of the moment. Adrien Sahores @ Models 1 did so many shows he most definitely burnt off the xmas pud! Here he is flashing i-D a wink backstage at Neil Barrett. EJ
Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton
Kim Jones killed it at Louis Vuitton, first by having Giorgio Moroder himself introduce an exclusive mix at the show and then all these super sharp, edgy suits with an international feeling just kept coming and coming down the runway, it was glorious. Guys joke to me: “of course the suits look good, they’re worn by models and I’m not a Louis Vuitton model” but the point is I saw those same models all week long and even they don’t look like Louis Vuitton models until they put the suits on! People should never be afraid of any label, go into the store and try on a suit, clothes are there to serve you, not the other way around. SH
When I think of Calvin Klein, it’s white backgrounds, simple cuts and new faces. The CK presentation was pleasingly true to form. Creative Director Kevin Carrigan was master of the cast, choosing unfamiliar, fresh faces who were positioned around an ideal home, as if stuck on pause. Creative concept. Clean execution. SR
Had just about everything you expect from a fashion show and will undoubtably dominate the mens fashion pages next season. EJ
Mugler has become a new highlight of the first day of Paris fashion week just because it’s like watching two naughty kids, (Nicola Formichetti and Romain Kremer) annoy and confuse the entire fashion establishment. I’m not even sure if they know what they’re doing but I have fun watching it. For everybody who’d just got off the plane from Milan mens week, the exclusive track made by Azealia Banks (listen here) for the show totally jolted us all awake. Azealia book-ended Paris haute couture week too by performing at Karl Lagerfeld’s private dinner where he presented his pret-a-porter collection to a select gathering of editors and friends. SH
Taking place on the final day in Paris, Thom Browne pitched a curveball with his jocks vs punks mash-up of an AW12 collection. Whilst many of the menswear massive had chosen to tread a more cautious path, Thom presented a riotous wardrobe of pieces; inflated silhouettes fit for the most dapper of All American footballers and punkish braces and breeches all scattered with vivid prints and fluoro shades! A welcome and wacky repos on the menswear rollercoaster. SB
