Like a group of dapper nomads, riding boots challenge the Burberry’s shearling lined leather boots and Cavalli’s patent combats. If you have to single out a plain and simple message behind Massimiliano Giornetti’s latest collection for Salvatore Ferragamo, it is to maximize your options. From oversized knits to boots that cut a little under the knee, “think big” for next fall, should now be added to your list of to-do’s.

As boots sweep Fall 2010 and take over runways from Milan to Paris, Giornetti leaves you to face the daunting decision of suede or leather? Bowed velvet for you you loafer lovers. In every shade of color that you would ever associate with fall and the year’s colder temperatures, this season’s Ferragamo man is more of a free spirit, with very high standards of living.

Playing with more patterns this time around, as opposed to his Spring 2010 collection, Giornetti revamps plaid and makes head to toe purple something chic. Creating for a timeless collection that transcends both age and experience.

The Full Collection / 37 Pics
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Last season, Roberto Cavalli took it easy on the print and patterns, channeled most of his energy into rich embroideries, ribbed motorcycle pants, and overall a created simpler man. 6 months later, the designer pumps up the pattern, does a little cropping, and introduces us to oxford-style combat boots. If you need more proof that Cavalli man of yesteryear has taken a back seat, this will sure convince you. Just as polished but quite the rebel punk, Roberto does an about-face targets a different younger clientele.

About this time last year, Roberto Cavalli presented us with loafers, slip-ons, and slippers. Speed things up a year and say “hello”, to a tougher man. Mixing leather and plaid and opening the show with British import Jacob Coupe, things get a little British this season. Refined striped blazers contrasted with cropped trousers in plaid, you will come to find that no two plaids are hardly ever the same. As layering is also a strong point in Cavalli’s work, we see it this season, as with any other, in print scarves with enough open area to not put your mind into overdrive with an unhealthy amount of print.

Moving into more traditional territory as the show progressed, slashed jeans backed with mesh and denim helped keep up the attitude of the show. With luxurious double-breasted coats featuring lightest moving fur taking center stage. At end, fading to black with 4 final black suits to leave you with the everlasting Cavalli impression.

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Only about a year into there stint as designers of Gianfranco Ferré’s menswear line, and it is as if they were there from the start.

Before Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi took the reigns at Ferré, the line you see before your eyes was not as edged out nor as versatile as you see today. Last fall, the unstoppable duo introduced the Ferré man to slender silhouettes and extreme structure.

This season we are now brought longer, looser, and more luxurious looks. All crafted with the same attitude that was brought about when the two designers first debut at the house.

Blurring the lines where ages meet and pieces can no longer be worn by those in different age ranges, the Aquilano and Rimondi managed to go classic and futuristic all at once. Furs worn with suits fit for a night at the opera, leather pants paired with contrast colored knits and strapped boots (perfect for a cold day in New York), it was Gianfranco Ferré through every state of a man’s life. Past, present, and future.

It was an honor to get to witness the show in person.

My shots from the show/backstage to come soon, the full collection after the jump.

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Punks, Preps, and Sports? Exactly what Maurizio Modica and Pierfrancesco Gigliotti offer up for Fall 2010. As anyone would tell you, no stone is ever left unturned at a Frankie Morello show. Mixing polar opposites and even giving into the world’s current vampire craze, the design duo known to always put on a performance each season do it bigger and a little hardcore this season.

With a giant screen acting as a backdrop and the usual Morello extras bring the runway to life, shattered stain glass cathedral windows marked the opening to what would be Morello man gone punk. Backpacks with belt straps, pleated skirts over stone washed jeans, suspenders and studs – who would’ve thunk it. Last season’s prim & proper equestrian man becomes a rebel. Well…sort of.

Not leaving their sporty side packed away for another season, the collection was also sprinkled with sports bags and soccer influences. How the two themes fit together is beyond me, but the magic of Simon Nessman’s motorcycle suit speaks for itself. We have all seen motorcycle pants thanks to the likes of Cavalli and Decarnin, but we have yet to see the technique put into a suit, or a jacket for that matter.

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In the mood for a little nostalgia? Well, it’s the 50s all over again. For Fall 2010, Tomas Maier takes you back to the late 1950s.

If you were to cut the latest Bottega Veneta collection in half and remain fixated only on the show’s first 16 looks, chances are, the hair won’t make any sense to you. First sending out a series of weather repelling looks in shades of deep plum, black, and green – never in a million years would you have though the 50s were anywhere in sight, until pants became cuffed and socks seen. Starting out in more casual denim looks, then graduating into suits and more formal looks, after Garrett Neff took to the runway, no pant or jean was safe from a little cropping or cuffing (sometimes both). Now making idea of ankle baring pants, a very Veneta signature.

But as the hair and 50s-ness of it all took center stage, something else also broke down Bottega boundaries. You know, it’s not every day you see woolen sweatpants on a Bottega Veneta runway.

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When you are celebrating 10 years in the world of menswear, why not do things big(ger) than you normally would do on any other day of the week? Expanding on the idea of a less polished Dolce & Gabbana man this season, with a man-clutch no where to be found, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana take you on a testerone driven ride through Milanese fashion.

Typically, when Dolce & Gabbana and celebration get put into the same sentence or even paragraph….you would think that the duo would break out the tuxedos, bow-ties, pocket squares, and what not. Going into unexpected territory, this time around we get ripped thermal pants, distressed/paint destroyed jeans, and torn/tattered shirts. Pairing ripped shirts and distressed mud stained boot with herringbone and three-piece suits.

Someway…somehow…through it all, you will still manage find the usual Dolce & Gabbana dapperness in it all. From the pleats at pockets to the contrast stitching on some of the jeans. At the end of the day, the quality is still all the same quality that has keep the Dolce & Gabbana faithful coming back for the past 10 years. Man-clutch or not.

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