Men’s Fashion Week :: Burberry Prorsum, Bottega Veneta, Prada, and Miharayasuhiro

Let’s get one thing straight—I am not a man. I don’t pretend to know what kind of clothing men like, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that the main reason why I watch the men’s collections at all is because of the incredibly good looking models. (For insightful commentary, I suggest reading John Kim’s post below.) What I do know, however, is that any of these outfits are better than the standard guy fare of ill-fitting jeans and a gym t-shirt, which, for all intents and purposes, should be immediately burned for their offenses against the human body. But before I break out the lighter fluid, let’s take a look at some of my favorites from Menswear Spring 2011.

A few looks from Burberry Prorsum's collection.

Burberry Prorsum: Biker gangs! British people! Burberry! In case my overuse of exclamation marks wasn’t enough to show my enthusiasm, can I just say that I loved Burberry Prorsum’s menswear collection? By now I should definitely be weary of the whole military trend, but Bailey’s pairing of sharp tailoring with rebellious leather jackets certainly has me second-guessing my own jadedness. And while none of it is revolutionary in any way, there is something a little bit brilliant about a collection of extremely wearable clothes that conveys both sophistication and urban cool.

The scruffy men of Bottega Veneta.

Bottega Veneta: You know how at the end of “Your Love is My Drug,” Ke$ha gets all giggly and says something completely inane like, “Hey, I like your beard”? Well, it seems that despite brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack every morning, Ke$ha may actually be on to something. The Bottega Veneta man is all about the facial scruff, the testosterone, the uh…whatever else it is that manly men have. It’s like an amped up Land’s End, except instead of being blasted with a wave of nauseating tackiness, you have clothes that are fresh, virile, and worn-in. The colors—khaki green, maroon, sandy beige—are also a wonderful touch, enhancing the male form in all its masculine glory. Because even manly men need to wear clothes sometimes.

A couple of looks from Prada.

Prada: Hi, Prada. Lookin’ good. Really, really good. In fact, everything is so good that it seems I’ve lost all of my cognitive faculties. Keep up the good work.

Mihara Yasuhiro's America. All images courtesy of Style.com.

Miharayasuhiro: Sometimes it takes a foreigner to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes American style so quintessentially American, and this spring the task fell to designer Mihara Yasuhiro. A coat with an eagle woven into it, a sweater speckled with knick-knacks from an old toolbox, a suit paired with suede fringe moccasins; all of it dangerously clichéd, yet rendered beautifully into a story about man’s struggle to define his relationship with nature. Do we embrace it, as seen in the sporty ponchos and parkas, or do we seek to escape from it in favor of tailored suits and crisp collars? Yasuhiro seems to suggest a happy compromise between the two, and I have no doubt that this collection will be a standout for its strong ideas and even stronger execution.

Aimee Shimizu
BARE Reporter