Milan Uomo: Canali
When watching the runway shows as a fashion writer perhaps the first thing one looks at or tries to discover are the different signatures of the designer and the house, and the specific signature of the collection. What sets this collection apart from others? How does this brand express itself uniquely? Of course the devil, like so often, will be in the details.
But not so with Canali. For Canali, at least in this collection, has appropriated the color canary yellow unabashedly. It’s flaunted, and not served discretely–like we so often see with many shades of burgundy or green, in both the accessories and the menswear, probably because there is no hiding from this stark of a primary color on the spectrum. And one color in a collection is often enough, especially in winter, so that the other colors during the Canali show inevitably strayed from grey, back to black and white, the latter often in manila making it softer on the eyes after or before the yellow spankings that the eye would take in the midst of the dark of winter.
But that was not the only signature which was evident and on display during the show, because between the different motifs and patterns of the winter collection lurked one indelible and bare thread: An ubiquitous stripe or line, composed in different paths, tunnels, and canals–in different widths–sometimes even forming a checkered group of blocks–in abstracts–as if appropriate for the various concepts worthy of the architecture of a modern building. Canali clearly is composed and designed not just for style, but for the sake of art for art. It gives an extra touch which goes above and beyond the mere sartorial and which makes it, in combination with the colors, so very pleasant to the eye. There is a looseness and happiness about it, which would do any dark winter well – as if casualness were to be given its name in the expectation of spring to come.
Thus this collection blends the formal and the informal, the traditional and the modern, by using only two different signatures – with sweaters, jackets, and coats as outerwear in premium materials like cashmere and with some unique detailing done in braiding: A playful and pleasant collection it is indeed as opposed to all the dark colors and shades we usually get to see on the runways during winter. Quo vadis uomo? Man, where do you go when you wear Canali?
The lightness and the pleasantness of this grand winter collection makes BDMOTP chose for Nice, France on the place Garibaldi in front of the grand hotel. Not because the Méditerranée is very close or because the soft Mistral wind, even in winter, will come your way – of course this helps, yes, living on the Côte d’Azur–but no, the reason is that against the marvelous colors of the buildings in Nice that you could perfectly blend in so as to always go in complete discretion: Canali yellow, for the man in winter whom no darkness needs!
Posted by Sandro Joo and photos by Paloma Canseco.
