Givenchy Menswear SS12 Collection
Cropped tops, layering, print, tailoring, leggings, silk shorts, skirts? Could this be? All in one collection? Answer – yes! Givenchy menswear designer Riccardo Tisci has done it all. Combining all the masculine taboos in one collection with a tailoring twist. Once again the neutral colour palette saves the collection from being something vilely tacky.
The previous season’s collection left me yearning for more, leaving me with incredibly high expectations for the SS12 and I must say I was far from disappointed.
Like a colourful Rorschach test, the prints manifest themselves against the contrasting white background yet blend calmly within the green. Riccardo Tsici also illustrates how these vivacious patterns can be worn in more subdued ways by combining them with block colours. This gives those looks less of a hectic vibe providing a more polished and clean look. Getting these different looks can also be done using altered shapes and fits. The collection has a wide range of these, from baggy sweaters and sport shorts to fully tailored suits. Suffice to say there is something for everyone.
My absolute favourite piece in the whole collection is the idea of using cropped tops for men. I need no longer go to the women’s section in H&M! I know it might seem a bit 90’s but whilst looking through my wardrobe I realised that I had tops that consisted of two lengths; shirt lengths and sweater lengths. I was on a mission to find what other lengths I could inject into my wardrobe, and once again I was forced to resort to women’s wear. Long Story short I ended up with a few oversized t-shirts and two cropped tops that look amazing with a shirt underneath to give it a more masculine look. I am glad to see that this idea has hit the catwalks and been done in a much better way that I could have ever imaged.
The idea of using lengths gives depth to any outfit as well as giving the sense of fun and shows that one can enjoy getting dressed, rather than just wearing the first thing they see in the morning on their way to work.
No Collection is ever complete without a piéce de résistance and for this collection that would be the skirt. Sparking up debates, designers have attempted to persuade men to lose their trousers and get into something a bit more airy and comfortable. The Scottish have been doing it for centuries so maybe it’s finally time for the modern man to pick up on the Scottish celebratory wardrobe and celebrate their own manhood.
In a world where identifying human gender can be more difficult than distinguishing the differences between a cat and a dog, sexuality has seemingly merged into one. Effeminate men, masculine women – there is less bother about this now than a few decades ago. However why do I still feel that men are the ones falling behind? The amount of times I have worn certain things out and men have come up to me to tell me how good it looks followed by ‘but I could never pull that off’. ‘Why?’ I always ask them. If you want to wear something then why not just go for it? The upsetting point of the matter is that men have been stumped. Men are now the ones with limitations. Even traditional menswear’s from the 18th century like cravats or collars are seen to be too much for some men to handle.
Skirts in today’s society come with an overbearing amount of stigma, but what people tend to forget is that men and women both used to wear them and still to this day men in more practical cultures like in Africa, south America, Asia etc still adorn them with no shame- these men kill with their bare hands, which I’m sure if we are following the indivisible ‘how to be a man’ book, is quite up there, the skirts don’t make them less of who they are.
The fashion journey for men has come to a halt. All that seems to change are different nuances of grey and adding a few patterns here and there. Whereas women’s clothing shapes change from season to season. Jean Paul Guiter, Vivenne Westwood and now Givenchy have attempted the male skirt disguising it as a ‘kilt’ to get more men to release it from the female conation, but men still have a long way to go. The Suffragettes, feminist movements in the 60’s women have been fighting for their rights for a long time and it shows in their way of living today, from careers to what is available to them in fashion. Betty white once said “Why do people say “grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding”, and she is right. Maybe men just don’t care too much about their rights because they have been given the right to do whatever they please served to them on a silver platter since the beginning of time but it seems like they are content with being stuck in a 1950’s mentality. Men shouldn’t be afraid of experimenting more in their fashion sense especially when such AMAZING designers are going through the effort to create great pieces.
By Andrew Demetry
