Menswear print predictions from Paris and Milan for 2013 / 2014.
You probably won’t know that in my early education, I spent a year studying on a B.A. Fashion course at Ravensbourne college of Art and Design. Which in those days was based in the sleepy area of Chislehurst in Bromley. It was a good course, but I found that my desire to want to create the shapes of garments diminished quickly, when I discovered the printed textile department ! This led to my escape to a 3yr Textile degree at Nottingham Polytechnic, which was much more exciting than creating toiles and pattern cutting.
I still have a glance at menswear from time to time but to be honest I’m usually unimpressed and find the garments either far too O.T.T for your average Joe on the street to want to wear, or uninteresting and somehow ‘done before’.
Thanks to the wonderful blog of Barbara Mazzoleni called Pattern Prints Journal I discovered some exciting menswear ideas from the Paris and Milan shows, predicting trends for 2013 and 2014. I would classify the designs as ‘exciting and fresh’, through to ‘interesting in concept’ and finally ‘bizarre and largely unwearable’. I’ll let you decide, which collection of images falls into which category lol
Some lovely knits and colourations from Missoni.
John Galliano has created a bold new canvas.
Looks a little Star Trek or something from a 70’s Tv Sci Fi show. Givenchy shows us where baseball meets bows !
Some very masculine shapes, patterns and colours here. I quite like the draughtmans’ jacket, would be even nicer with star charts on it.
Graffiti meets high fashion.
Something new, suits meet sweat pants.
Getting a little weird now.
Finally Brocade meets bathroom towels, and it looks like the Lilac jacket has trousers to match, now that’s fortunate 🙂
Food for thought and do let me know what ‘Suits you sir’ !
fishinkblog.com 
I find prints for men to often be way too much and too busy, chunky or just plain ugly. I totally agree with you about the ones that i am attracted to usually have been done and are somewhat boring when trying to use them again. I think i dont usually like prints on men for the same reason that i dont often like them when seen in the 80’s on women. There is just too much of the fabric used. When used in large amounts, it just looks like a busy mess. Prints used as accent pieces for me work better… (use it in a tie not a jacket!). With your great post above, interestingly enough, i like the knits the best. I actually think that this is the season for the return of the knit in both fabric and finishes (knit, crochet, jersey, etc) I like the MIssoni and the Fishlink cardigan the best. Also the (i think) fishlink turtleneck as well. The purple is just plain hideous but i bet that there is for sure some super fashionista gay guy in Miami that just HAS TO HAVE IT, just like they all did in the early 90’s Versace silks! lol.
Great comment Bluepearl girl. Great to see you got inspiration from the knits in an article about print lol I like it. You’re comment about the Miami fashionista made me laugh too. Thanks
No problem. Your post i can tell was well thought out and a bit of work put into it. It had so many examples to see. I appreciate a posting where you can tell that it is something that the poster really had put a lot of energy toward. Plus, i was not prepared for that lilic ensemble at the end. There maybe should have been a warning on that one. So those with weaker constitutions would be able to brace themselves before having that image seared into their brains! If it was in the 90’s i think i probably would have had a couple of friends fighting about the fact that they both bought it and were going to wear it the same night. Back then, if it had a real Versace label in it, no matter how hideous, their gay high fashion fabulous-ness would tell them it looks GOOD! Lol. At least it was fun and colorful! Even if it DOES look like bathroom slippers.
Point taken , I’ll try and give you some warning in future. Candlewick bedspreads are reborn !
Now that might just be something i could go for. So long as they are not dyed lilac or fuchsia or something like that. I appreciate what they are trying to do with showing some different textures and i am always a fan of color… Just that particular combination… for a man… just seems to hit the mis-mark… BIG TIME! I bet it is very absorbent though! 😉
Some I LOVE, some look way too much like re-modelled bedcovers/sofa unpholstery , possibly salvaged from a flat inhabited by Diana Dors c.1965 for my liking. Candlewick jacket anyone? Like the Dior, Galliano knitwear, the Gaultier and the Dries van Noten jacket…but some of the rest would look really grim in the real world.I feel that the acid test of a brilliant designer is if their stuff, however way, out does look good on a normally shaped person walking down the street.
A Ravensbourne boy eh? Years ago a posh paint company brought out a range of paints that were chosen and named after Art/Design Colleges…Ravensbourne Grey. Oh how we laughed! It had real name for being soooooo serious in the 70s….
Yep Ravensbourne felt like a poor neighbour to St Martins but that itself felt far too pretentious to feel like a real place lol I liked Nottingham the best. Thanks for your comments and another smile maker with the Diana Dors comment 🙂
I’ve always admired the colors and patterns in Missoni’s knits.
Great colours indeed, I must have a look at more Missoni ideas.
I went to Ravensbourne 1983 fine art!
How funny, I was there 85-86, such a lovely college and environment, pity the course wasn’t right for me. I don’t think I was cut out to be a ‘fashion dahling’ either lol
The only piece that I dare to wear would be the Missoni cardigan although I wouldn’t be able to pull it off since a big body frame is required. Everything else is just too over the top to wear in real life. I can never get men’s high fashion…
Thanks Rusty, I guess with any High Fashion it has to be a little theatrical to grab people’s attention, and by the time it gets filtered down for the high street stores, most of the shock and wow factors have gone. I do like the Missoni and Sullivan knitwear and the Lacroix jacket could work too. Perhaps our catwalk modelling days have gone lol
Have fun watching your input. I know of no man who can get any of these items. 🙂