Spring Fashions I

Here are a few looks for spring from the runways. I definitely see the vintage inspiration here!

To take your vintage and make it very high fashion, just read on.

Look #1 from Dior Homme (at left)

Last year the body conscious 3 button suit was a nod to the mod years. Now the single button and two button suit can have just as much fun Take your early 60s and 50s blazers and suit jackets with narrower lapels, and mix and max with pants from a contrasting color suit. You can also take a take from your closet or buy pair of matching and monochromatic pants and shirt. A vintage skinny tie is in good company here.

Footwear leans away from the slip on loafer and reverts to the tie shoe with a little fun and comfortability. Specatator shoes are shown for spring, but i certainly could see white bucs, solid color patent leathers beige, and even saddle shoe types. The look of the white socks almost suggest spats.

Look #2: Versace and Look #3 Valentino



Scour your closets for your vintage Hawaiian shirts which are a perennial classic, but also, get out those wild 70s poly op art shirts that have been seen on hipsters the past few years, but no one has quite yet brought it into light, or carried it off in a more polished way like we see here. Leave the dockers and jeans at home, and pair your acid colored op art and hawaiian shirts with tux pants and suit pants. The look is complemented again with shoes that turn heads. Instead of a sandals or a 70s disco shoe like you might think, we see a be-spatted look again. There is a lot of potential for era mixing here! The look at left also is finished with a white, rivetted belt. A white belt can give an ensemble a very "new wave" look, or a panama city look depending on how it is all put together. Not everyone is confident about wearing a white belt...unless it is with white pants. You can carry out the spirit of the style by a belt more blended to the pant color, but with some visual interest to it so it does not disappear. The rough hewn bohemian look in leather goods appears to have mostly disappeared for men, so look for gleaming hardware and excellent finishing details.

In Look #2 from Valentino, we see the same ideas with bold shirtage, but with a few other more relaxed details. A more floral motif is bold but a slightly more traiditonal. The trousers are flat front and in fact the shirt appears to be finished to not require tucking in. This all might eliminate a lot of material and be more flattering to the average guy. The look is more casual with sockless loafers, but again, we see a move to making casual operate with details borrowed from a formal closet...like the black, rather dressier than aquashoes loafers.

I will post a few more over the next week as well. The message in the collection seeem to be prints, structure and "casual details in proper dress occassions" and "formal details in casual occasions". It may just cause folks to have a bit more fun in their formal wear and show up to casual, but not unimportant events a little more cleaned up and presentable. And despite the impractical things that we have seen on the runway the past few years, I think that is a concept that guys who live far away from the footlights can embrace.