Men's Fall 2012: Brief Notes

1. Balmain has ‘fast fashion’ written all over its banality. The entire thing is humourlessly dull, and completely vulgar, which is the opposite of luxury.
2. Comme des Garçons's Manga Prince has all the whimsical creativity of Howl’s Moving Castle. It's hardly Joan Jet (as one important critic noted - has she never been to Japan?), and only cartoon gothic.
3. Lovely paisley puffa and the very oddly joyous collection by Kean Etro. Some of it looks heavy, but then it’s Fall after all.
4. Dries Van Noten is nice but not at his usual high standard. Fine interpretation of the print story.
5. Givenchy looks like it was styled entirely from a Factory Outlet and will soon appear at a Top Shop bargain bin. A couple of cute glittery white shirts, hardly new, and nothing inspiring.
6. Jean Paul Gaultier – don’t waste the three minutes clicking through this.
7. I like Dolce & Gabanna: It's straight out of a Visconti film (I'm thinking The Leopard) and curiously, it's not so very different from the theatre that Prada is doing.
8. Gucci was quite good, perhaps one of their best in recent memory (and I'm talking the last five years at least).
9. I loved Missoni for all the same reasons that I love Bottega Veneta - because I always do.
10. Insane for the first half of Rick Owens. Perfect proportions. And then the costumes came out.
11. Total refinement of proportion, volume and colours at Lanvin. Simplly perfect.
12. Hermès is effortless, unforced yet never boring; More than its women's collection, the men's truly says all there is to say about what the house represents.