CANALI SS 14 MENSWEAR #MILAN

In a dreamlike world with blurred boundaries, shadows and lights glide past, outlining a black and white Parisian universe built from metaphysical and imaginary shapes.

A train journey, a window, the swift succession of fragments in a countryside painted by the artist’s imagination. The train slows down and glimpses gradually appear of rooftops on the Champs Élysées, of the Île Saint-Louis and the majestic Gare du Nord. The illusory sensation of movement, midway between lunar landscape and city, is marked by that hypnotic rhythm typical of the films directed by Jean Cocteau.

The shadows fade, making way for the explosion of light and colour of the Spring Summer 2014 collection.

Brushstrokes of colour painted “en plein air” illuminate the collection, designed for a multi-faceted man of the world who, like Jean Cocteau, loves to surprise with irony and to rewrite the rules with a playful but impeccable personal style.

Supple lines flow over the silhouettes without accentuating them. Jackets are longer and waists, emphasised by thin crocodile belts, become a prominent feature, while trousers with one or two pleats hang lithely before tapering at the ankles in a high cuff, to reveal colourful socks decorated with polka dots or stripes and two-tone moccasins adorned with the Canali signature texture.

Fine tailoring and handcraftsmanship are blended with a pinch of irony and desire for carefreeness. Stripes and polka dots play down the rigor of a classical sense of elegance to become the guiding thread of the entire collection: formal and cotton suits, deconstructed jackets and the smartest of duster coats which call to mind the Palais Royal and its “striped” columns.

He is a modern man, who astounds with his consummate sense of humour. Alongside pinstripe suits, cotton gauze shirts and trousers with overlapping dot designs, he confidently wears Toile de Jouy fabric jackets and trousers featuring seductive mermaid decorations entwined with the Canali signature monogram.

A collection that plays not only with prints but also with colours, in the form of unique, exclusively designed fabrics which challenge classic masculine colour tones. From the powdery, almost chalky shades of honey, otter and grey, he switches to deeper shades of royal blue and dark red.

Bags in deerskin or decorated with the signature Canali texture, pure silk pocket squares and tie pins worn under jacket breast pockets or on lapels represent decorative jewels that enrich finely tailored suits and reach beyond the tenets of classicism with mastery and refinement.