This season, Rick Owens truly transported us into his world. The show took place in a venue resembling a big warehouse, with all white walls and metallic vents hanging from the ceiling. While loud techno music conducted the tempo to his model army, we could admire what makes the Owens style.

Keeping the colors at the basic black, white and brown, he let the clothes speak for themselves. Minimalism was the key word, no over the top details, just a few zippers, nicely cut pieces, asymmetrical light cotton tanks, tailored coats, structured jackets with touches of leather and some layering of clothes and material.

In previous interviews, Owens mentioned that footwear and hair are what is most important, and that rules should be broken, which might explain the imposing flapped leather boots and head pieces, which were often referred to as nun wimples or old school nurse caps.

As the show took it’s course, scorching noises burst out and smoke coming from the vents invaded the runway, giving the impression the structure was going to crumble upon us, like anarchy was heading our way in the form of these cool understated warriors.

Rick Owens Spring 2011, shot by Homme Times

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Drifting away from the full-fledged masculinity of his Fall 2010 showing, which had professional fighters swap out the the likes of some noted house regulars, for his latest menswear showing, Jean Paul Gaultier once again dips into the pool of homoeroticism that has aided him in producing some of his most renowned works. With the backdrop for the presentation standing with the appeal of a modern Moroccan hammam, a sauna of sorts, models lounged about the set as if poolside, whilst looks breezed down the standard JPG runway with an aquatic desert bondage feel to them.

Mainly in a darker color palette, brightened up with camel colors and otherworldly prints that spark an urge for one to reach for a pair of 3-D glasses (playfully weaved into the collection), Gaultier continues to march on with his well-practiced way of creating clothes that are almost androgynous yet fully masculine. In a myriad of lighter fabrics seen crafted into voluminous shapes, the designer places you in an area of high humidity, dressing you in semi-transparent lace-front tops, presented linens and leather, as you pair them with easy-going trousers and less than serious gladiator-style footwear.

Displaying both relaxed and rigid within the same venue, Gaultier finds a happy medium between Moroccan relaxation and French bondage-wear by loosening up the appeal of suit-like dressing with sheer panels, and by also using rich silks that feature stars, stripes, and galaxies to get a calming point across.

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Always one to stage his presentations in a venue that seems to perfectly coincide with wherever you are being sent off to with his showings, for Alexis Mabielle’s Spring 2011 menswear display, the designer picks up on the rich subdued tones of an old French temple. Taking you from the factory grays of Fall 2010, to what can easily be mistaken as a Greek era, flower-sprinkled hair and all.

With the walls of the almost freeing space inside the Oratoire du Louvre featuring rounded architecture that can lead your mind into a time of gladiators and coliseums, Alexis Mabille paints a picture of serenity for latest collection by instead finding inspiration in desserts, and the many sand dunes that lie within them. Loosely structured yet crafted with a certain ease that makes the construction of very utilitarian pieces look as if it could be done without the slightest of hassle, the designer uses fabrics in their natural form, such as un-ironed cotton to create a multi-pocketed shirt worn belted and paired with contrast-stripe trousers that were tucked into gladiator sandals.

Stepping outside the of box of standard professionalism, run-of-the-mill poplin shirts were given a factor of interest as each came equip with new functionality, some featuring numerous zips (including a very crafty zip that detached a shirt from it’s collar), while another featured the running trend within the show, daisies.

A show arguably highlighting the softer side of men, while newly trendy man-purses were no where to be found, instead luxe voodoo wood bead bracelets were seen alongside necklaces piled on in great quantities, always dotted with white crocheted daisies when presented.

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Danny Arter backstage at Neil Barrett Spring 2011

After making a debut at Burberry last season as an exclusive, in his second run on the catwalk, British model Danny Arter has expanded his horizons. Walking countless shows that span from Dries Van Noten to Alexander McQueen.

Experimenting with new materials to build up a fresh and modern collection, Alessandro Sartori and his team at Z Zegna create an outdoor mood perfectly fitting for spring.Describing the showing of subdued tones that capture your attention without offending your eyes as “a laboratory of many different technologies and techniques”, Sartori this season plays with the idea of creating new from old, bringing forth the concept with the essential suit, now created by minerals and fossils with a more streamline fit.

Pristine fabrics are made up of cotton and linen fused with metal, transformed into relaxed wardrobe of rich blues and powerful earthy reds.

Further expanding on his concept of renewal, pure recycled paper was molded into something that could be worn on a summer’s day, displayed in the form of an effortless sweater.

Z Zegna Spring 2011, taken by Homme Times

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