Prada Menswear A/W 2012 - oh we love you!

I have a secret admiration and love for menswear, it plays off womanswear alot more than people are aware and give it appreciation for. I also feel that menswear is fustratingly lacking in choice and styles and every season there is only one high street take for menswear and if you dont like it or more commonly dont fit into the ideal of the collection (ie. You're too broad in the shoulders, thighs or italian cut just doesnt suit you at all.) then you're stuck.

I love working on menswear and playing with tailoring, fabric choices and the general overall feel for the garment. Menswear is straightforward, smart and simple and there is no room for mistakes - simply put...you can't hide a design flaw or a bad cut. To work in menswear requires a longer length of service before you can "graduate" unlike womanswear. You have to strip everything back to basics and keep things simple then build upon it once you learn the basics.

I always love, love, LOVE the Ford  -Tom Ford that is. Even throughout college watching his rise to power and collections becoming stuff of pure gold I as well as many in the fashion circuit respected his vision and his works. He dressed the simple lady and made her in a goddess and stripped the man back to his masculine roots and showcased his physique to being everything a man is. (Polo shirts that are fitted and cut to fit and emphasise the body not hang loose as if to hide it.)

SInce Ford, I havent gotten excited by the menwear scene for a long time and it appears no one esle has either...until now.

I am seriously loving the Prada Fall 2012 menswear collection! And it doesn't hurt that for its advertisement campaign they landed some excellent actors. And what I like the most? they are showcasing the collection on male models/actors from different age groups, that says fashion isnt just aimed at the youth, and to be honest this collection was all about the gentleman, something only the more maturer male could uphold!

 

 Helloooo Mr Oldman! I'm loving the contrast of the youthful Jamie Bell on the Left with the older, somewhat self confident and rougish Gary Oldman on the right!

 

 I'm liking the double-breasted  waistcoats and cut away details at the shoulders and sleeves. Doesnt this just scream "steam punk" with its quirky accessories and modern-victorian vibe?

 

Loving the glasses - perfect homage to Oldman's earlier role in Bram Stoker's Dracula with those glasses!

 

 This is appearing to be a rather slick and stylish advertising campaign and even I just want some of their suits dammit!

 

I show the close up of William Defoe on the right so you can see the style of smart-ass prints they are working with this year... 

All Images take from http://www.prada.com/en/advertising-campaign-fw12/man-print-campaign

 "A parody of male power," Miuccia declared backstage. The power was palpable. That giant carpeted red square (which in itself seemed like a conscious echo) felt like the flooring in a conference hall in one of the palaces where cabals of diplomats and military men once met to decide the world's fate at a turning point in history. The formality of the collection offered exactly the sort of clothes you could imagine them wearing: double-breasted suits buttoned high, astrakhan-collar coats, pinstriped jackets with a flower in the buttonhole. The men who wore such things would surely have valets, a point that was made clear when models stripped to the kind of crisp white cotton underwear that an Edwardian gentleman's gentleman would have recognized.

But this wasn't simple sartorial historicism. Remember, this was a parody of power. So nothing was as it seemed. Formal clothes were actually cut from denim; what appeared from afar as wool barathea or mohair was really cotton. Look closely at the ornate, baroque patterning on shirts and you'd see rows of American football helmets or feathered Native American headdresses. Tailored topcoats woven in jacquard looked more like silk bathrobes. And the formal white-tie neckgear was a mock turtle on a tee. An awful lot of ingenious thought had gone into making a statement about the emptiness of dressing to impress, while, at the same time, producing clothes that will entice men to do exactly that. 
- Taken from  http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/F2012MEN-PRADA/


For me this is a visually inspiring collection and one I hope will trickle down to the highstreet well enough and still hold onto its rich detailing and attention to the small quirks that makes the pieces work. Victoriana/edwardian and indeed period style always resurfaces each winter, every year without fail and this time teamed with a steam-punk edge to it and a "devil may care attitude" and a humourish twist makes the whole collection just work.
I am also very interested to see how it affects womens wear, such is the power of this collection. Prada's womens wear have gone for a completely different take featuring 60's style, geometric patterns and heavy embellishment - shame as this for me is nothing new and is always a guarenteed feature every autumn/winter collection. If they had maybe done a collection in a similar vein as the menswear, it would have oozed with slickness and style whilst given something new to the crowd who would have clamoured for the edginess of it all!

Please feel free to check out Prada's collection and watch the video here  http://www.prada.com/en/advertising-campaign-fw12/man-print-campaign

Birdie fashiony love to you all!

xxx