MEN STYLE
spring/summer 2010
fall/winter 2010/11

• fashion by C.P. Company, Capo, Bell & Ross
  
• beauty by Marlies Möller, Nickel, Geoffrey Beene

The contemporary man

In mid-January 2010, fashion magazines worldwide are reporting from the men's shows in Milan; and so will Fashionoffice and joins the report-marathon.

Fashionoffice asks: if style is the product of a holistic view on fashion, beauty and lifestyle, what's the concept of the contemporary man?

Lifestyle: urban & sportive

The trend of outdoor fashion in the city and the new view on the urban landscape by walking on the streets in a sportive parcours is probably caused by the grown ecological consciousness: the city isn't any longer the end station for nature.

Fashion, beauty: technology, extreme situations, and humour

Still a characteristic of men's wear are the arguments for a new fashion, which come from the technology of the materials, the manufacturing, or even the packaging - like the Nickel 'Super-Clean' body scrubbing gel is delivered in an oil tank-packaging.

Significant for the contemporary man: unlimitedness

On US design label Geoffrey Beene's blog, William Faulkner is cited: "The past is never dead; it is not even past." To live the world consciously unlimited, in time and space - with all the consequences which come from the awareness that limitations are set in our thoughts, is significant for the contemporary man.

fig.: without special order, beginning with the...

Clothes by C.P. Company, fall/winter 2010/11. The Milan based label offers almost everything for men: shoes, bags, accessories, shirts, trousers... and jackets. The designers are rubberizing and dying the materials with the company's special techniques. Therefore C.P. Company (founded 1975) has an own textile research laboratory, which is very rare for manufacturers of clothing. The company is specialized in treating the material on manufactured garments.

C.P. Company announced together with the new FW2010/11 collection, the 'Tempo Performance' textile research project. A strong theme at the collection is the 'performance' of the body which is reflected by the materials. They are made of upgraded natural fibres like wools into technical fabrics by combining them with a windproof and rainproof membrane without loosing appearance and breathable properties.

For the C.P. Company fall/winter 2009/10 collection, the designers have created surfaces that look as if a mechanician comes directly from the 'Mille Miglia'. For fall/winter 2010/11, they have combined the outdoor look with urban style: "The cosmopolitan citizen and the modern country gentleman: two worlds that meet and draw strength from each other," states C.P. Company. The label produces women's wear too.

Nickel 'Super-Clean' body scrubbing in an oil tank-packaging is developed especially for men's skin "to avoid crocodile look". Nickel is a 'men's only' label, founded 1996, with the mission that 'beauty can be a man’s concern'. At the same time, the label has created on this idea the first Nickel Spa for Men in Paris. Nickel's products have a fun appeal and target party goers all over the world. Today, you can find Nickel spas in London and New York. Nickel is also working on a special men's wording such as the label is writing on the website: "Forget 'lipo-reduction treatment', what a man worries about are 'Love handles'."

BR-S Phantom Instrument ceramic by Bell & Ross, released 2009. Bell & Ross (founded 1992, Switzerland) describes the designers inspiration for the watch with a man who "...wants to reach for the stars and explore the ocean depths, because he lives out his passions to the full, man has always measured himself against time... to turn a few seconds into a moment of eternity." The brand's vision of a man is someone who loves extreme situations such as astronauts who explore the space.

Activating Scalp Serum from the 'Men Unlimited' series by Marlies Möller, release date January 2010. The serum is designed with the knowledge about stem cells and their renewing power. The cocktail of ingredients stimulates the functions of the scalp and supplies the hair roots with energy. Marlies Möller, the label belongs to the La Prairie Group, Switzerland, a subsidiary of Beiersdorf AG, advices to apply the serum with a head massage. That activates even the mental power.

Cap with a flag by the Austrian label Capo, special edition for the World Olympics in Vancouver in February 2010. Photo: Capo.

Grey Flannel, the classical men's fragrance from 1975 by the US designer Goeffrey Beene (1927–2004). He is one of the rare pioneers who married Haute Couture with American Ready-To-Wear for a timeless American style. The fragrance is made of chypre, a mixture of different scents with a fresh and fumy note; a very mythic mixture, known and re-designed since the Middle-Ages; probably the inspiration for the Gothic medicine bottle-packaging comes from this time. Chypre was very fashionable in the 70ies; at that time, women used for even men's fragrances, so you will find in the history of perfumery some women's perfumes with the male, fresh-fumy scent chypre. On the welcome page of the Geoffrey Beene blog www.beene-iana.com, William Faulkner is cited: "The past is never dead; it is not even past."


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