Mood board: There’s a crisis of masculinity being explored by designers in Milan. Muccia Prada riffed on ‘sexy’ with her neat, boyish clothes and short shorts, whilst Francesco Risso at Marni focused on body positivity and a new athleticism, adding high-resolution crops of erotic photography by artist Florian Hetz. The sensuality of masculinity is a new niggle for designers working right now; norms are being reset. At No 21, Alessandro Dell’Acqua started looking at the desire for light and warmth. ‘I envisioned Cuba consisting of sunsets, colours, cocktails and palm trees,’ he said, transferring this to a collection of clean, natural simplicity. Sensuality is represented here in the sci-fi glare of red PVC trench coats, paired with crisp, natural cotton boxers; grey mohair shorts worn with sandals and nude socks.
Best in show: The clothes riff on the warmth of the body against the chill of virtual culture. The body is exposed in multiple, diverse ways. A single sleeve is peeled off close-fitting knits to reveal a bare arm, pyjama collar shirts are worn nonchalantly open and pulled low at the back of the neck. A classic loopback jersey sweatshirt in grey marl is turned inside out – a tiny gash runs along the collarbone. Backstage photographs from the label’s last show are inserted into clear PVC chest pockets on shirts and printed on the back of coats.
Team work: A good raincoat is a summer staple. Dell’Acqua collaborated with the Swedish brand Stutterheim, adding signature white stripe detail to classic fisherman slickers. Alexander Stutterheim launched the label after discovering his grandfather’s old fishing coat hanging in an abandoned family barn on the coast near Stockholm in 2010. The get-together of his serviceable, well-constructed outerwear and Dell’Acqua’s preoccupation with the primly perverse is surreal and sleek.
