MILAN, Italy — Seated in the front row of Versace's fall menswear earlier this week, British actor Ewan McGregor wore a vintage corduroy jacket with the kind of shaggy pile collar one can find only in thrift stores. Next to him, R&B singer Maxwell had on a long black frock coat, his oversized afro tucked up inside a scarf.
Although clearly throwbacks from earlier generations--namely the 1960s and '70s--such fashion statements could just as easily have been taken from the Italian runways. That's because for fall 1999-2000, everything old is new again.
More than 75 designers from around the world gathered here to present their versions of what men will be wearing. There were Edwardian frock coats and skinny 1950s-style, three-button suits, military jackets, embroidered wide-leg denim jeans, velvet jackets, fur vests and long, mod-looking hand-knit sweaters, nostalgically referred to as the "Maude" look (the long crocheted sweaters worn by Bea Arthur in her 1970s sitcom).
One might expect the collections to be full of techno fabrics and yes, even a few space-age jumpsuits for the 21st century. But not even Nostradamus could have predicted mink, cow hide, pony fur, shearling, alligator, crocodile and other exotic skins moving down the runway. There was so much fur flying here, in fact, that one American specialty store buyer called this "the year of the road kill."
*
Whether space age or ice age, few went as far out with fur and other design notions as Vivienne Westwood, the English designer whose collection opened six days of fashion shows with British boxer Chris Eubanks parading out in a sequined dress and plaid shawl and ended with a model in a massive leather coat with a Mongolian fur collar that appeared to come straight from "Doctor Zhivago."
Juxtapose that with the more tasteful way the Fendi sisters, Maria Teresa and Silvia, showed their fur vests, full-length, mink-lined coats made of man-made techno fabrics, and a diagonally cut full-length mink worn by Italian actor Christian De Sica, son of director Vittorio. Neither extreme is likely to play in sunny Los Angeles, yet designers here did show that fur--and men's fashion, in general--does have a softer, more accessible side.
