July 28, 2014 |
Some random notes on the Berluti AW14 show, culled after many tireless hours of internet research/procrastination. Though I prefer the term research.
* It was the first Berluti catwalk show. Until now there have only been static presentations. This one had models. Not that the static presentations didn’t have models. But here the models moved. Obviously. Alessandro Sartori said he wanted to show how the clothes moved. From what I can tell they moved beautifully.
* There were a lot of jackets. And coats. Every look bar two. Apparently Sartori is a jacket obsessive. You can tell. Every variation of outer covering: suede bombers, classic suiting, overcoats, belted and not. Each a feat of immaculate tailoring.
* Men wore these clothes. Not boys. Some even had grown-up facial hair. Not that over-styled nonsense you see so much of these days. Anyway, these are clothes for men. Boys would look strange in this, uncomfortable. And anyway boys could never afford these, even in their dreams. These are man clothes for men.
* Thighs. It could just be me, but the men had thighs. They looked muscular. I get the feeling that these trousers were cut with one purpose in mind: to enhance and flatter the thigh. And very flattering they were, too.
* Scandinavia. The set was made of bleached blocks of wood.
* Fabrications. Modern. High tech. A blending of traditional fabrics with the technological skill of today. I may have lifted that from somewhere, I can’t remember. What I will say, though, is that wool was sandwiched between two layers of cashmere. Pad-stitched interior-tailoring techniques were moved to the outside for evening suits. That, I definitely lifted from somewhere.
* Nonchalantly worn. A little loose.
* Intarsia pleat. I gather this is a sort of inverted pleat. It’s also a knitting technique but here it appeared as an inverted pleat. On sleeves. Apparently, it gives more freedom to the movement of the arm. Other clever tweaks – because it’s menswear you can hardly reinvent the wheel; there are no hemlines to drastically cut or drop – included the slash pocket. Small and imaginative details. Fabrics covered in hundreds of tiny stitches, creating texture and depth.
* Colour. In some cases looks came out in a single colour. Not necessarily in one all-over, matching colour, more a palette of shades of a single colour. For example, red. In other cases looks were made up of colour blocks. Two colours, no more. For example, blue and brown: a dark blue shirt with a hint of purple and matching tie, worn with a three-piece suit in tan. Colour blocking for men.
* Greta Garbo. Apparently there was a ski boot inspired by one made for Garbo by Berluti in 1938. Lady shoes for men. Not really, but sort of. You could, if you really wanted to, spin it that way.
Photographer: Jason Lloyd-Evans
By Natalie Dembinska
