Sharpened Lead

Part II in my reviews of recently streamed menswear shows is Prada SS11. I have to say watching it again has only added to my excitement about the phenomenon that is mens fashion right now, and for me it surpassed the Jil Sander show as I will actually be buying items from the Prada collection. Everything about this show is genius. The soundtrack has lots of resonance for me – a genius mashup of Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus with Jeanne Moreau’s vocal from the soundtrack of the film Querelle (both seminal pieces of media from my youth!).

Originally streamed live to a (no doubt) rapt audience around the world, the setting of an underground car park with municipal looking red plastic seating (a million miles away from the gilded thrones of front row Paris) cranks up the sense of the unexpected from the outset. Again, there was lots of colour, in both striped-neck knitwear and the use of contrasting grosgrain ribbons on shirtfronts in bold, acid colours. The key garment is probably the short-sleeved cotton v-neck overshirt, apparently inspired by uniforms  worn by nurses and fastfood workers with a prominent front pocket. Again, blue was prevalent as was denim, in a gorgeous light snow wash, as both oversized shorts and in a version of the v-necked overshirt. I am really intrigued by this item, and can imagine it’s adaptability whether layered over shirt and tie, polo shirt or a simple contrasted T. I also loved the return to very slim, black tailoring. The combination of this silhouette with the stacked footwear and slashed necklines had a certain sense of youthful Gothic counterculture about it, offset perfectly of course by Bauhaus clicking and echoing away in the background.

What everyone has been talking about, of course, is the shoes. For me a throwback to the playfulness of the much missed Miu Miu mens shoe range, Miuccia has served up a triple stack of shoe here, combining a brogued upper with a layer of espadrille sandwiched with a trainer sole. When I first saw these I thought they looked a bit heavy for summer and in my eagerness to own a pair, envisioned myself crunching through autumn leaves a good inch taller than I usually am. However, having noted the espadrille filling in the shoe sandwich I concede their summer-iness, though I am no less eager to actually get my hands on a pair, particularly the ones with multi-coloured brogue upper in browns and greens. As ever, I’m left wishing we could just scratch the dreary English winter from our calendar and speed on to next Spring.

Other reviews of note:

Fantastic Man’s featured ‘daily recommendation’ of the Prada platforms this week

A great writeup By Lucas from The Clackers

Dazed Digital’s Resee of the collection offers a close-up view

Below are some more screengrabs from the Prada menswear SS11 show, available to watch in full at Prada.com

My overriding thought on visiting the Margiela  20 Year retrospective show at Somerset House was of how familiar everything seemed, as though Margiela’s influence has been everywhere in the last 20 years, and of course it has. Fashion labels and retail environments from APC to Muji owe something to Monsieur Margiela.

From the vinyl tabi footprints leading the way into the exhibition (a tribute to Margiela’s signature cloven-hoofed  footwear) to the whitewashed furniture and domestic objects,  its clear that you are in the presence of a very singular design aesthetic. The absence of any images of Margiela himself (he is missing  even from the silhouette sculpture of the House of Margiela personnel) is, ironically, part of what makes his style so recognisable.

A catwalk video literally invites you in. From then on, the show is presented thematically, almost like a science exhibit, with plenty of opportunity to see the clothes up close and (thankfully) often not even behind glass. Themes such as ‘destruction’ (clothing ripped or otherwise damaged) and the Margiela motif par excellence of ‘trompe l’oeil’ reveal the thinking behind key pieces and entire collections.

From a menswear perspective, exhibit 23, ‘Men’ is of most interest. A series of model mugshots and video footage of the Margiela menswear show at Teatro Puccini at Pitti in 2006 together with the actual garments worn there –  a tribe of space buccaneers clad entirely in futuristic white – gives an insight into Margiela’s vision for men.

In addition, I am particularly fascinated by the ongoing series of Margiela ‘found objects’ catalogued CSI-like with plain white labels indicating the era and place of origin of the original ‘model’ item. In this way, a beautiful vintage homburg hat, the perfect dinner jacket, a 1920s doctors coat, Austrian army running shoes are recreated, and in doing so, both honour the original and draw out the very characteristics that make them familiar.

The attention to detail in this exhibition leaves a real impression, everything from the basic courier font of the exhibition guide printed on plain white paper, to video and other realia from the individual stores around the world. I have a personal obsession with the cult of fashion show invites, at its best in Paris it seems, and made a list of my favourites from the Margiela archive: a newspaper advert with the show circled by a marker pen on an otherwise nondescript listings page, white print on clear bubble wrap, a white handkerchief, a white ceramic plate, a hospital wristband, a bar of chocolate, a plaster wishbone, cress seeds on a bed of white cotton wool. This is the stuff of art school dreams! Elegant simplicity that manages to make us aware of the designed objects we are continuously surrounded by.

The exhibition isn’t huge (and is all the better for that) but definitely left me wanting to own at least a few Margiela pieces and slightly mortified that I don’t already. What follows are some suggested items currently available from outlets online. I’ve always found Margiela’s footwear to be particularly tempting: from a pair of flat-heeled ‘cowboy’ boots I really SHOULD have bought in the Brussels store to some stunning recent trainers, the combination of amazing luxury materials with Margiela signature minimalism is at its very best in the shoes I think.

Items:

Yellow AIDS 2010 t-shirt, Oki-ni

Trompe l’oeil ‘cigarette packet’ T shirt, Tres Bien Shop

Camarugue boots, Oki-ni

Mint green trainers, Oki-ni

Maison Martin Margiela, 20 is at Somerset House until 5 September.

In London, the Maison Margiela store is at 22 Bruton Street, W1J 6NE.