The Traveller
Since the debut of the Spring/Summer '09 collections last year, I have silently been in anticipation of trying looks inspired by the prevailing French and Italian trends. In Paris, one noted the important concept of the traveller, whilst in Milan the idea of nightwear inspired clothing seemed to dominate. Oddly enough however, both source inspirations provided looks that were similar in a number of ways.
In France, Junya Watanabe would provide his vision of the French road trip with traces of the colonial adventures. His laid back and comfortable summer looks evoked imagery of worry free travels and casual exploration. I have always had a rather romantic view of the traveller, so his interpretation of that character had a definite appeal to me. The light blue cotton jackets paired with khakis, brown shoes and acessorised with oversized travel trunks provided a look that I was rather enamoured by. There is something nostalgic yet fresh about his collection that I feel will work well for this season.
In Milan, the menswear collections saw rise to nightwear inspired pieces - comfortable and airy looks, reminiscent of pyjamas with the employment of fine stripes and lighter density fabrics. The prevailing hues of light blue fascinated me, especially that of the suits and jackets. As seen in the Watanabe collection, Milan also saw the pairing of blues and varying hues of pink. Indeed, I was especially drawn to the vivid pinks of the Louis Vuitton and Gucci collections and their combination alongside the lighter blues.
As such, when I was invited to have lunch with my cousin this weekend I was keen to put into realisation one of my own interpretations of the Spring collections. Over a buttoned white shirt I decided to wear a bright pink, fine cashmere sweater, not too thick that I would feel overly warm, however comfortable enough for the remaining cooler weather. On top of this I wore a finely striped, blue and white cotton jacket with a simply placed white pocket square. I also decided to wear my pocket watch in order to provide a somewhat more traditional touch to the look.
I feel that I may actually replace the dark blue buttons of the jacket with either brass or wooden alternatives in the near future, so the contrast is not quite as stark as it is at present. Although I feel that as the warmer weather begins to feel at home, I shall be pairing the jacket with light blue or khaki trousers, given the still somewhat cooler weather, I felt that I would use light denim for the look. I finished the look with pink socks and my brown brogue boots for a somewhat smarter feel as opposed to plimsoles or other alternative casual footwear.
(it seems as if the top break of the jacket is rather tight, however it was simply not sitting on my shoulders correctly for these photographs - sorry!)
