10 Men Issue 42: Backstage Boys
For whatever reason, I feel like I’ve been wanting you all my life. You don’t understand, I’m so glad we’re at the same place at the same time. Those lips and your brown eyes, oooh, and the sexy hair, I should shake my thang, make the world want you. Tell your boys you’ll be back, I wanna see what you can do. Miss Spears had the right idea, and would surely be sick with jealousy over our unrestricted access to the best-dressed men in London, Milan and Paris.
LONDON
Topman
It was northern soul-y and sort of ’70s. The sort of clothes you could wear to a secret underground disco and dance the weekend away in.
Margaret Howell
Trousers: wide and pleated. Quite schoolboy. Short suit, with a knitted tie and anorak. A jaunty neckerchief. A sock-and-sandal combination.
Burberry
Nothing was as it seemed at Burberry. No ordinary English gentleman, Burberry’s man prefers shirts and ties in delicate lace, tasselled loafers, a cravat around his neck and cashmere knit trousers that made you want to scream, “Luxury, darling!”
Coach
Think Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – in a surfer board short, topped off with an animal-print fake-fur-slash-short-haired animal skin. Sounds wrong but looks good.
Dunhill
It’s about a top hat and an oversized Carrie Bradshaw corsage. Morning suits. Clothes for the races. Clothes for the altar. And clothes for everything in between.
MILAN
Prada
Something of a “greatest hits” feel to Miuccia Prada’s SS16 collection. Python and nylon, a bold print and a topstitched jacket, and clothes slip-sliding all over the body.
Ermengildo Zegna
There were certainly plenty of ideas – maxi madras checks, lightweight mixes of black and colour-brushed greys, a new slouched trouser shape and lots of lovely fabric.
DSquared2
Beer and birds and surf shorts: the DSquared2 boys were in an up-yours party mood for their awesome spring show.
Diesel Black Gold
A jam-packed wardrobe of black and white looks and a crackling bit of silver (cagoule and shiny trousers). Blurred the lines between traditional SS/AW dressing.
Calvin Klein Collection
Italo Zucchelli’s clothes riff on classics such as stonewashed denim (here reworked as a spongy jacquard) or plain white T-shirts (in starchy poplin).
PARIS
Juun.J
More denim in puddle flares – the raving kind. There were zips, or rather one big zip that dissected pinstripe jackets and all-in-ones: these will be a hit.
Kenzo
The whole show had more than a hint of international research centre and alleged flying-saucer-crash storage site Roswell. Cue X-Files theme tune.
Raf Simons
A veritable ode to emo, with saggy jeans, tightly tugged hoods and heavy, chain-strung backpacks.
Berluti
Take a nice suit and a neat knit and some polished leather and mix them together into a slick, chic look without looking in the least bit ostentatious. That was the recipe Sartori stuck to for spring.
Dior Homme
Cue camo, cagoules and plenty of argyle, mixed together in a cocktail that summarised, for Van Assche, the contemporaneous. Think of it as Dior’s Homme’s “new look”.
Compiled by Will Johns and Dominic Cadogan
Photographer: Jason Lloyd-Evans
