GUCCI"S NEW CELTIC DANDY

Milan – Hirsute yet refined, polished but still raffish and even a tad louche, Gucci unveiled a new modern dandy Monday, Jan. 17, in its latest menswear show in Milan, when the famed Florentine brand looked north to Scotland for inspiration.

"I had in my mind Rod Stewart, someone so vain, so precise in his look. That's why I call this collection Modern Dandy," explained Gucci's creative director Frida Giannini backstage after the show.
There wasn't a slip of tartan on the runway, yet the legendary Scottish rocker's easy rascal look was all over the catwalk - from his giant '70s era lapels to his mop-top hairstyle. The models were so shaggy haired, they looked like they had been given hair extensions, a suggestion Giannini was keen to deny.
Not that this collection was anything other than luxurious, like the ostrich skin putty gray trench coats and alligator blazer to the uproarious beaver trench and Mongolian lamb coat.
But this fall 2011 collection's most iconoclastic moment was the whole new suit Giannini sent out. Milan has been dominated with low crotch but tight leg pants and narrow wee jackets for a half decade now, but Gucci proposed flared trousers, paired with nipped at the waist, wide lapel jackets, for a smart reinterpretation of the classic playboy rocker suit.
Giannini also tapped into several big Milan trends - the return of mohair New Wave sweaters, albeit with horizontal blocks of color and the almost-at-the-ankle great coat.
Under her reign, Gucci has been all about riffing on the brand's craftsmanship heritage and she played a couple of strong, fresh chords with the first masculine bamboo bag - the house's defining object though with a blackened handle to keep it gutsy. Also on display were great new weekend bags, boasting a new double GG after the label's founder Guccio Gucci. Though this logo came with the two Gs separated and not intertwined as they were in the locked double G symbol as seen on the gray carpet that was this show's catwalk.


WEEKEND IN MILAN
BURBERRY PRORSUM, Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli sent their menswear designs on to the catwalk on Saturday as Milan Menswear Fashion Week got underway.
SEE ALL THE MENSWEAR SHOWS HERE
Bright peacoats - and cowhide collars, bags and hats - peppered a Burberry Prorsum menswear collection that was much more colourful than usual. Dolce & Gabbana, on the other hand, chose just one colour to enliven a monochrome collection: red. From tomato brocade tailoring and scarlet striped jumpers, to plum leather jackets and maroon denim, the designers were well red for autumn/winter 2011-12.