Ports 1961 - A new era for mens fashion.

Ports 1961 also known as Ports, is a fashion house originally founded by Canadian entrepreneur Luke Tanabe in Toronto in 1961, specializing in luxury ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women. Since the inception of the brand, designers have endeavoured to ensure the haus live up to the prestigious name of the label. Ports has evolved from the modest business, known for importing clothes from Japan, to a renowned worldwide label.

This season shows that the brand certainly lives up to the description of 'specialising in luxury ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women' above you can see a small sample of what the haus showcased in Milan this month, for their AW14 line of clothing. Base notes of the clothing sees a very dark colour palette which really accentuates the ideology behind the designs.

Transforming from a brand that deal predominately with fine mens tailoring, the kind you would only find in London's Saville Row, to the exquisite, Avant Garde clothing you see here is truly a step forward in mens couture.  The sheer fit and outline of the clothing shows is business and formal side, while the exasperated explosions of creativity give a deeper sense of fun and exploration. These designs are those I would not expect to see in England but perhaps a suburban town in Paris or perhaps the underground Art scene of New York City, this is if course a bonus for those of you lucky enough to be blue to invest in such clothing.

This is a great collection from head to toe, the highlight for me being the deep contrast between tailoring in at mid points and eccentuating at focal areas. It's a shame Ports isn't British, never the less Canada should be proud.

  

Versace brings gun slinging Western back in fashion this AW.

Yesterday at 20:00CET Versace debuted their AW14 menswear collection. I am an avid fan of Versace, and if you know me well enough, you will know that Baroque designs are the key to my heart. So I was quite surprised, and a little disappointed to see very little of that style shirt in this collection. However the haus do hit back by taking us into a more western/cowboy themed line of clothing. The majority of which came halfway through the show with leather shirts and crotchless pants showcasing their new line of underwear.

Accompanying the leather ensemble is an Italian leather belt embellished with gold studs and Versace's signature motif, the head of Eros. A winning combination has to be the fluidity if matching T-shirt and underwear. This allows us to focus more on their design of Y-front and of course the accessories that go with it.

The winner for me this season would of course, have to be the beautiful, gold embellished suit. Although it's hard to make out here, the tailored suit consists of a silk plated collar and pocket square. Both if which bear the beautiful baroque design that Gianni has graced the world with since the inception if the brand. You also see this design slightly on the collar and of course the lapels of the jacket. 

Accessories have been a big deal for the haus this season, as a lot of low laying, heavy gold chains are at the centrepiece of the collection. Making a bold statement to this ready-to-wear line gold is a given when it comes to Donatella and her designs, and of course she would be stupid to ever ditch the gold on black contrast!

Of course another contrast has been added this year, and apologies for my lack of being able to print screen a photo, but as you can see a dark coffee brown has been added to the traditional gold on black power combination. I like it, a lot. I really do like the contrast yet depth the extra shade gives to the outfit, it seems a lot more warm and powerful to look at. Also remember that this collection is for the cold winter months to come, that we are pretty much still in height of.

Despite all of this, my favourite cameo would have to be the loud and colourful bedazzled deigns on a lot of the items, mainly a cactus. I recently recall suggesting Donatella whip out the old Bedazzler gun and get back on giving more gay to the collection. Perhaps she stumbled across my little baby of a blog and took some advice. If so, she went too far. A few studs here and there are good, but not when it looks like you're about to do a spin off to 'Toy Story' on a pair of leather pants. Never the less a great job has been done by my bitch Donatella and the collection is amazing in its entirety. This, is a true step forward and innovation in menswear design.

Miharayasuhiro - Evolution of the suit or an extension of pyjama?

A nice, crisp, tailored suit should be hung in perfect accordance in any mans wardrobe, however Miharayasuhiro have set out to defile this convention, and I'm still trying to work out whether it's a good thing or not. Mihara Yasuhiro, the creator and CEO of the brand has been working closely over the past seven years or so, with Puma, to create some of the most interesting and innovative designs we've seen on sneakers to date. However it wasn't so long ago that the up and coming designer converged to designing menswear. Just like his sneakers, he has always set out to break boundaries and smash conventional ideals of menswear, I think he's done justice with this reel.

This collection sees the conversion of traditional and contemporary Japanese Manga into prints, and I think it's paid off. It's not at all what you would think the outcome of this project would look like, but I'm in awe of it. The prints are subtle yet prominent, and unlike most of the high street, patterned shit you see hanging around, it does not embellish the whole item and has some sort of personal ties with the designer. The central motif for the collection was a Phoenix, which is being exploited in the gold head guards worn by the models. It's a statement that tells of the power of the Phoenix being, incomparable to that if human power. Perhaps this is what Mihara thinks his collection is, in comparison to the rest if the industry. He's done a good job, but you're not quite there yet.

As mentioned earlier, he seems to have out a spin on the conventional tailoring of the suit, combining oversized Asian harem pants with a slightly tailored jacket. The oversized trousers give a more contemporary edge to a traditional piece. Never the less it can be seen as a smart pair of pyjamas, at least I can see both sides of the spectrum. I do however think where print has been applied, it should be broken up throughout the outfit a little more. This draws such prominent attention away from the upper half, and has your concentrate on the outfit as a whole. Otherwise you may as well wear some last season, American apparel jeans.

Altogether it's a great collection and does she the boundaries of menswear being elevated, hopefully one day menswear will be comparable to womenswear, and not just a side show designers use to experiment with.

Opening the door to a better year...

So. I've only just sat down not he train home from work to see these exciting snaps just before the Versace Fall/Winter collection 14. Come back tomorrow at 7:00GMT for live reviews of the collection!

Maison Martin Margiela - Just a one hit wonder?

Margiela has, in recent year, been know for his Avant Guarde collections which, although not as outlandish as say, Gareth Pugh, have still caught the attention of consumers and critics alike. A lot of people don't know, but Maison Martin Margiela as a brand, debut the first collection in 1989. This is a surprising factor for those of my age, as Margiela has only been known to us over the past decade or so. This is of Louise in comparison to long lying brands such as Chanel, Valentino, Oscar De La Renta and Dior. On the other hand, it's obviously a good factor to think the brand has been around a lot longer than its original inception. This gives us consumers the impression the haus has a bigger name for itself, than perhaps initially projected.

According to writers and those high up in the industry, Menswear was said to be pushing menswear fashion like never before, but truthfully I don't see it. Yes of course Margiela knows how to out a small spin onto a timeless or classic garment to make it look 'edged' or ironically 'fashionable' but all I see is the neutral reinvention of East London's hipster scene.

Having said that, from closer observation of the first, second and last image you can see something slightly unusual. This something seems to be an inverted waistcoat of even a severed tailcoat. A couple of these have creeped up in fashion before, but never in menswear (as I recall). Although giving off a horse riding facade, I definitely think this works. It gives a lot more animation to the piece and gives it the edge that guys like me are looking for in casual tailoring.

On a plus the styling is impeccable, and even though Margiela himself has resigned from the company, his high standards if styling, tailoring and colour palette are still in place. So all in all the collection is of course good, but remains as a bland, ever remaining mens collection with a few tweaks. Needless to say it is a Spring/Summer collection, and designers are continuously challenged with evolving their haus with such little to work with. Oh, and I must say. The way the belt has fallen on the first model... Gets me a little excited.

Dolce and Gabbana - The great Gianni heist...

    

Another Italian couture giant has taken to the stage and shocked, but for all the wrong reasons. Founded in 1982 by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana the brand set up a small designer consulting studio and later presented their debut womenswear collection in 1985 and their menswear debut was in 1992. Since then they have been a market leader for luxury ready to wear clothing with a to date turnover of €597 million in 2005.

Dolce and Gabbana has been a favorite of mine for years, since I was only 14 in fact. It was the intricacy and fine tailoring infused with bold colours and contrasting designs that caught my eye. I even remember writing 'D&G' on my clothes hanger while attempting to design their new collection.

Lately I've been very complimentary over the latest SS collections, and for those of you who are lucky to know me, you also know I'm not an overly complimentary person. Quite the opposite in fact, so it's time to get back to reality. Focusing today on the SS14 reel of D&G menswear designs I am nothing more than disappointed. The collection was initially split into two sectors; summer couture and tailoring. The tailoring I am a fan of, but the rest looks like a River Island throwback with a Versace influence. The collection features historic scenes and religious/monarchal figures of Ancient Greece. The only up note of this would be the cut of the tops, they feature a low stitched back and a bat cut arm, something a little different from your normal t-shirt/jumper cut. Everything about this half of the line seems to me, as dull, boring and clichèd.

Oh. The other hand, the tailoring seems to be classic D&G with a slight metallic spin. Fine tailored trousers, with a slightly un tapered straight cut paired with a nicely tailored, double breasted jacket seems to dominate the collection this summer. The colours are great. They're bold, fresh and they make a statement. For you guys out there that can stretch to buy a Gabbana suit, I would recommend it. A perfect look for coming out of winter and launching yourself into summer.

All in all, a very disappointing collection which is close to being saved but he tailoring, but not completely. Never the less we still haven't seen the last of this ever evolving fashion giant.

Louis Vuitton - New recycling campaign?

I've personally never been a fan of Louis Vuitton, I understand the attraction. Beautifully hand crafted bags, made with only the finest print and Italian leather, with small signature and subtle entities that make the product worthy of the name. However, spending a year living in West London and seeing hundreds of bad (and good) fakes around the arm of anyone and everyone really made me feel nauseous at the sight of the print. This is exactly why I don't like it when labels slap their print all over a suit and call it 'new season' especially a print that looks as daunting to me as a crossword looks to an illiterate. 

Moving on from that disgusting jacket, the rest of the outfit, and the collection as a whole is pretty decent. Vuitton are not renounced for their tailoring, but they do hold some pretty good pieces, especially the subtle pinstripe suit you can see above. Especially this season, doubt breasted jackets are a big thing, and LV haven't cut that corner. On the slightly more casual side, I see a slight element of Superdry in the fourth image. Imagine Harrison Ford stumbling across a Superdry store while filming 'Indiana Jones'... Not a nice look. Especially being a Superdry employee myself, I can't safely say that once I leave work, I do not want to see anything relating to the brand until the next time I'm at work. 

I do on the other hand, really like the oversized, draping shirt, which seems to have taken some influence from Wedgewood pottery. I like it, however it does bring back a slight memory of Lady Gaga performing at the Brit awards in, I believe it was, 2009. Never the less it's a regular collection we can be seeing a lot of this year, as LV haven't really delved into the menswear sector much. Perhaps designers have an overdue gas bill after foreign markets making money off their back, or they want to expand their horizons? Who knows.