Milan Fashion Week: menswear

Alexander McQueen, Spring/Summer '09 (scroll down to read the review)
Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen delivered a strong show that was sleek and minimal, without his usual rich embellishments. However it was far from dull and full of optical illusions. He opened the show with his signature tailoring, cut close to the body, in the form of a nude coloured peak lapelled jacket that looked almost like the collar was a shadow. It was actually smothered with fine ton sur ton jersey, so the collar was merely implied or suggested. In other jackets collars had darker fabric inserted below giving the effect of a shadow.

Knitwear, already like a second skin, had two layers, with fine gauze draped over the top, Christo-style, or inserted to frame the torso. McQueen worked colour blocking (as also seen at Jil Sander), playing with pale shades like nude, beige and pale grey and the more graphic black and nude, redefining the way the silhouette is viewed. Engineered stripes changed from light to dark in suits and a smoke motif created in silk jacquard was perfectly placed on a smoking jacket.