Stepping in without previous warning —like a rhino in a glass exhibiton— Mr. Summer is in town.
Speaking of rhinos... Whenever we talk about hot weather, we talk about short clothes and whenever it's about summer clothing, we're talking SAFARI. If there's a way to look real chic not jeopardicing comfort and sportyness, that's wearing safari-inspirated clothes in summer. However, as as fantastic as this is, a safarian look is not an easy goal to accomplish for the regular department-storal people. This is why we need some higher help, someone with great vision and a groundbreaking sense of summer fashion: Alessandro Dell'Acqua.
In a similar and yet very distinct way he has done what Frida Gianinni did for Gucci: pulling together women's and men's wear. The difference lays on the fact that the garments intended for women have that more luxurious taste while men's are more urban, but let's leave that for a bit later.
It is print-season. Prints have been around for two collections already and people don't seem to be done with them, au contraire, they love them more and more every day. But with crazes along comes tackyness. Someone close to me put it like this: "I thought I was having a heart attack" when referring to Dolce & Gabbana's Animalier, their special collection devoted to leopard. This is why we need our dear "Mr. Water" (Aqua means water in italian) to guide us through this jungle animal prints are. So here we go.
We begin with the women's line —for I am a gentleman. As I pointed out before, there's more of a luxurious view for women. I should warn you ladies that this luxury is due to the use of lots of black, white, grey and some sand colors combined, nevertheless, with glimpses of silver and two of Vogue's chosen colors of the season: emerald and raspberry.
Don't get too excited, though, the apperance of this two jewls of the summer is limited to very few outfits and garments and is ONLY used to give them some life, not to be protagonists. But we have to clear up our minds about colors in summer, we can play only with black and white as much as we can with red alone; you should keep that in mind at all time. So just imagine how much more we can do if we add all sand colors, grey, silver and beige to the sum. And now let's multiply; Mr. Dell'Acqua goes straight to mini-dresses. You can ignore one trend of the season, but not another which made such a strong entrance as minis did; this is why most of his creations come in short. You have them plain-colored one-piece, printed-two-pieces, or once-pice covered with gauze... just whatever you can think of. And just in case you didn't have enough, the designer had the courtesy of having done some full-lenght creations. But however they are, the waists keep going up with the help of corsets and wide fendi-like belts.
Alright, don't worry, I haven't forget: PRINTS. Any self-respecting safari-inspired collection needs TONS of prints; and Alessandro is very aware of that. And I have to confess that as much as I "dislike" the leopard confusion going on in the world, I really love the way he has dealt with it. The major part of the prints he used are what we usually and mistakenly call leopard, however, it's not quite so, but more like giraffe. And this is really great because it is the best way to have both the geometric trends and the print ones at a time on an outfit . And giraffe also turns out to be a very versatile mean to play with colors since we can have two of them on the same garment so easily (see the pics to see what I mean). Anyhow, what I love the most about this collection is how masterly the designer plays with textures and fabrics. Cotton has to be the predominant for it's summer; but gauze joins in in sevaral ways: as a layer-cover for some of the mini-dresses and also as main piece of the dresses themselves printed with snake-like patterns and also in the colors of the season. And, ok, to conclude I shall just say that platforms in leopard —Ashley Olsen wore them first— are the latest for your feet but gladiator sandals come kicking them in the butt, so it's your call ladies!
Alright guys, it's our time. I know it is not fair to always be the last ones on the list, but this is what it takes to be a real gentleman —write that down. Speaking of which, we are going to look HOT this summer. Comfort takes over anything, but care in design is not forgotten. Short is the key word —as it was for women— when it comes to pants and they come very safari; two bottoned pockets flank them. For some reason, the color range for us is widened up to some yellow, violet and khaki as well as prints are: zebra, tiger... So we have more to choose from. Dell'Acqua has done pretty much what he did for women; and that is mixing up the classic colors (black, white, grey, sand colors, beige and silver) with all the prints and the only-for-men bright hues. But there's one more innovation specially made for us; the leather and the military motifs that give more of a urban look to the outfits. Sadly, I don't have that much more to say. Shirts and polo-shirts keep on reigning over t-shirts —there are some but, believe me, you don't want to know— and only a few loose and unwashed denim shows up. I still wonder why everyone keeps creating sweaters, jackets and blazers for summer when this freaking global warming thing won't let us use them; even at night. But they do, so we can find lots of v-necked sweaters in plain colors over printed shirts, jackets with a combination of canvas and leather and gorgeous blazers. So... to get it over with I will just tell you to keep an eye on those silver shoes that start to pop out everywhere and the superb also-printed belts.
Remember you can see the large version of my selected highlights by clicking on them and you can also check the entire collections online.
Hope you've enjoyed my review. I'm off.
PS. If you feel like a little dizzy from all the times I've said print or one of its derivatives, go have a Starbucks. I feel dizzy too.
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