Salvatore Ferragamo wins Wallpaper* Design Award for Best Men’s Fashion Collection A/W18

The Italian house of Salvatore Ferragamo scoops the Wallpaper* Design Award for Best Menswear A/W18, as voted for in our Judges’ Awards. View the rest of the winners here.

Salvatore Ferragamo

Guillaume Meilland’s third collection for the Florentine house was presented alongside the debut offering from newly appointed womenswear creative director Paul Andrew. Together the duo devised a kaleidoscopic palette, which updated classic silhouettes in rich and unusual hues. The exquisitely colour-blocked clothes ranged from buttery leather overcoats to boxy jackets, double-layered knitwear to autumn-toned trousers, preppy striped sweaters to sleek macs. Meilland had cut his teeth at Yves Saint Laurent and Lanvin. His design prowess was evoked in luxurious and timeless garments, and alongside Andrew’s debut, marked a new chapter for the Italian house.

Creative director: Guillaume Meilland
Based: Florence
Key features: colour-blocking, classic silhouettes and leather outerwear

BEST MENSWEAR A/W18 SHORTLIST

Comme des Garçons Homme Plus

Rei Kawakubo imagined clothing formed from a patchwork of superhero comic strips; aerial photographs of an anonymous city; and photographic prints of crazy paving, pebbles and manhole covers. Among this eclectic mix, white jackets with asymmetric fronts were embossed with square panels, shearling was cut into wide shorts and cocooning trench coats, and architectural drawings of interiors were layered and printed onto blazers. The show opened with models wearing dinosaur skulls rendered in fabric by the Japanese artist Shimoda Masakatsu.

Creative director: Rei Kawakubo
Based: Tokyo
Key features: Eclectic prints, shearling detail shorts

Lanvin

Menswear artistic director Lucas Ossendrijver reimagined the suit. The most classic English textiles were thrown into a new conversation, with narrow waists and strict, ironed-in pleats. Stripes and checks clashed and matched. Classic lines from bespoke tailoring were reconfigured to create a modern silhouette. A pinstriped suit jacket had pockets peeled from a classic duffle coat; trousers in smart wool evinced a combat-pant attitude with cotton inlay, gusseted pockets and Velcro; and jumpers were draped and worn with wide, sleeve-shaped scarves.

Creative director: Lucas Ossendrijver
Based: Paris
Key features: menswear archetypes, reconfigured tailoring, clashing fabrics

Maison Margiela

John Galliano’s first menswear collection for the Belgian house was a visual feast, and saw the house codes reimagined in the designer’s inimitable way. A classic trench was worn under its clear plastic replica. A canary-yellow puffer had its seams outlined in mink. A jumper was sliced and turned into a knitted frame. Tailored blazers and overcoats appeared with exaggerated shoulder lines and lapels. The standout piece was an electric blue suit, cut on the bias. The collection reflected Galliano’s exploration of the décortiqué technique, which sees garments reduced to their essential frame, then reinterpreted in new, imaginative ways.

Creative director: John Galliano
Based: Antwerp
Key features: deconstructed garments, trench coats and bold suiting

Prada

Prada’s collection came like a bolt straight out of the archives. At the fore were the iconic black nylon accessories Miuccia Prada introduced in the mid-1980s upon taking over the family firm. For the first time ever, pieces in the collection were designed in collaboration with creatives from other design disciplines: Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Herzog & de Meuron and Rem Koolhaas. After the all-black nylon looks that opened the show, bold and colourful archive prints featuring the likes of bananas and lipsticks punctuated the collection, and called out to all Prada-print obsessives.

Creative director: Miuccia Prada
Based: Milan
Key features: nylon classics, banana prints and design collaborations.