May 14thMenswear trends for next season

A lot of talk at this week’s menswear shows centred on the guts of a man’s autumn/winter wardrobe: the coat and the suit. At times this made for a boring catwalk season, and an expensive one. But the way that materials were put together or adorned with interesting details gave wearable clothes with a design spark. American designer Alexander Wang has collars that zip into hoods, shirt-tail-style flaps on poppers that can be folded down and slits on the inner elbows of coats for added movement, which came from studying vintage Nasa spacesuits. Carven, a niche but cool French label, has good coat hybrids, including a fun duffel with puffer jacket sleeves – a duffer? Burberry’s cropped puffers worn over suits and Louis Vuitton’s padded space jackets and shiny parkas stood out in two of the best shows. Kris Van Assche’s hit military-sportswear Dior Homme collection featured inside-out coats. Its snug four-button suit jackets, worn with a baseball cap, felt young and modern.

At Yves Saint Laurent, one of the strongest collections this season, leather featured in every single look, against a giant chalkboard backdrop. It was all about the neat tailored jackets or razor-sharp coats with leather details for the lapel or shoulder. The final narrow coat, with its biker top half and wool-coat bottom was particularly gorgeous. Similarly leather-fixated was Raf Simons’s collection for Jil Sander. Oversized belted leather coats over suits, double-breasted jackets in leather, leather long-sleeved tops. This wasn’t necessarily an easy collection to love – a dinosaur jumper aside – but it has certainly stuck with me. Note: leather gloves, worn with a suit, are very next season.

The jumper’s makeover as a “fashion piece” continues. Burberry’s had an air of golf about theirs though its designer Christopher Bailey said that wasn’t intentional. They also had a lovely new wide neck shape. “I haven’t got a new name for it,” he said. “But I liked the idea of them looking stretched-out somehow.” Alistair Carr at Pringle delivered a strong collection, balancing “fashion” knits, such as bold tartan or an exploded herringbone, along with desirable coats and fantastic boots. Squared-off necks popped up at Ferragamo, Dries Van Noten and Wang, whose cyan blue tech-knit looked super-modern.

The other big knit-line is the polo neck, particularly under a shirt, as seen at Prada. Prada’s were short-sleeved, very thin and like underwear. Other impressive knits included Alexander McQueen’s Aran jumper, which morphs into a sweatshirt, YSL’s razorblade jumper, Dolce & Gabbana’s bell-shaped, elbow-length-sleeved styles and Wooyoungmi’s sweaters with cable details.

A Lanvin menswear show always has a lot of fashion edge. This season things kicked off with boys carrying spy-style attache cases and wearing coats or jackets where the emphasis was on a new curved strong shoulder. Sculptural, pumped-up knits with an air of the Michelin man were tucked into high-waist trousers, trousers were shoved into biker-hiker boots or boxer-trainers while many of the trousers finished in a boot-cut flare. The whole thing was toughened up with caps, short hair and power coats. It might not be everybody’s bag, but it was directional. In other trouser news: McQueen has developed an s-bend trouser, a shape the label already offers for women, which curves out at the back of the leg and hugs the calf. It sounds weird but totally works.

Dinosaurs and whale motifs were seen at Jil?Sander. Beaded owls and jewel-embellished fox jumpers appeared at Burberry, while jellyfish and shark-tooth prints added some fun to a dark, sea-inspired Paul Smith show. There were also bird references: applique crows at Dior, a feather print at McQueen and feather pins attached to jackets at Vuitton. Rather less fun though, was the amount of fur flying about this season. Vuitton had kangaroo, Marni had hamster and Wooyoungmi had beaver. The fur collar will be rife next season.

The red, white and black carpet at the?Prada show was inspired by modernist rugs – and it turned out to be the stage for the strongest show in Milan. It was also an interiors moment in a season where those influences kept popping up. The set at Dolce & Gabbana featured a velvet curtain with gold braiding, well suited to a rich collection featuring lashings of gold filigree, silk pyjamas, velvet bow slippers and pinking-shear-edged capes. Velvet was everywhere: plush and plum at Hermès, sleek at Gucci with a flocked wallpaper effect. Prada had silk foulard and robe-style coats with a stately home-meets-boudoir vibe while McQueen’s Victorian-inspired collection included tapestry slippers. In Paris, Dries Van Noten’s prints featured psychedelic scenery that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an expensive statement drape while a textured bomber jacket reminded me of an old sofa – but in a good?way.

? Olive.

? Military references. Yes military is still in fashion, but then isn’t it always?

? The wearing of coats on shoulders and capes is still most definitely a?”look”.

? The bomber jacket – it’s everywhere, in every guise.

? Double-breasted suits are here to stay.

? There’s a pinstripe revival afoot. Ditto herringbone.

? Hair is slick-to-wet-look.

? Paisley is a micro trend.

? Astrakhan is big in high-end luxury?circles.