YSL: Paris in Spring 2011

Fashion Week NY is right around the corner so I thought I'd trump the situation and report Men's Spring/Summer 2011 which showed way back in June 2010.  If you were't thinking about Fall all summer then you may as well bundle up and forget about it, because the Spring 2011 collections are casting as we speak.

Fashion is always desperate for something new & YSL always rises to the occasion to appease the anguished style enthusiasts around the globe.  This collection is a fraction more contained than usual in comparison to the languid silhouettes presented to us in the past few collections.
Jackets cinched & tied with the standard male elegance of a sash feeling of a cumberbun.  Smart and tailored if you're rocking washboard abs & a  30 inch waistline.  This look is definitely on the stunning side and reserved for the gauzy guys who put the skinny in and on the RTW convention.
As usual, Stefano Pilati (Head Designer YSL), is right on the mark with the latest in textile innovation with the unbalanced feeling of an abstract plaid.  It creates a casual mystery of texture and color that adds a quiet subtlety to bold idea.  
The color palette is chic and functional and will prove to have a long wearability factor with the stylings of today's modern man.

Him, Her, She, He........

Sometimes it is rather obvious that a print is either male of female simply based on the elemets used to render the overall layout. For example, butterflies & flowers tend to tell a feminine story while sports themes & stripes have a masculine appeal. However, the abstract side of things seems to be a prevalent look for the past couple of seasons and is steadily gaining momentum. Several brands have indoctrinated the policy of runnnig prints that have only one distinction of gender, the colorway.
This brand of merchandising is seen mostly in the European market where basic prints are brought to life by a sophisticated color palette that adds a twist to the typical metropolitan silhouette. Patterns are surfacing in the most precarious ways lately as designers are focused on giving the customer more options to express style and personality.