Designer of the week - Antonio Azzuolo

Antonio Azzuolo

This week's designer of the week is Antonio Azzuolo - a Ralph Lauren and Hermes alum who launched his namesake collection A.A Antonio Azzuolo in the fall of 2008.
Antonio grew up in Montreal, Canada and earned a B.A.A degree  from the university of Toronto in Apparel design with a specialization in Men's tailoring.  After his graduation he moved to Milan, where he won first place in the menswear category at the "Festival des Jeunes Stylistes de Hyères". This award presented him with an opportunity to relocate to Paris where he launched his professional career.

Over a period of more than 10 years his career presented him with diverse fashion roles that have influenced the vision of his current A.A line. On one end as a  design director for the Ralph Lauren's Purple and Black Labels he learned the importance of the consistency in a brand's message, quality and fit, while his roles as a designer for fashion houses like Hermès and Kenzo inspired him to try and push the envelope of classic menswear. As a result the A.A line offers essential pieces for every guy, done in a luxurious yet simple way, with a refined tailoring (he is a son of Italian tailors) all smartly fused with colors and a twist of humor just enough to turn heads around and bring a fresh breath into one's wardrobe.

Paris Menswear Fall 2011 - Dries van Noten

Milan fashion week was concluded and we moved to Paris (what a life, ha???).
As always the designers who show in Paris are more daring, pushing the envelope a little more than the ones in Milan, so although i highly appreciate the creativity and fun and that most of these designers have in thier shows...they direct their focus more towards the show rather than functionality, but since i try to keep this blog realistically for guys to be inspired rather than scared away i decided to skip the likes of Gaultier, Mugler and Rick Owens and try to concentrate on those who can truly inspire the average guy....
The first collection from Paris that I'd like to share with you is the Fall 2011 from Dries Van Noten. Taking on the persona of one of my favorite style icons and without a doubt one of the most influential performers of  our time David Bowie the Belgian designer sent out a collection that highlighted once again his talent in tailoring and his sophisticated color sense, this time around with silhouettes that resembled  Bowie's wardrobe from his '76 tour of Station to Station of peak-shouldered, double-breasted jackets and full pleated pants, supported by elegantly, very well constructed military inspired coats with contrasting shades and fur lapels... merging so beautifully the 70's era with our century!

Style icon of the week - Pep (Joseph) Gaurdiola

This week's style icon comes from the sports word, not even 40 years old Pep Gaurdiola considered to be one of the best football (soccer) mangers in the world today coaching for the first time a pro team and not just another team but probably the best team out there -  Barcelona.
Following his career as a player for Barcelona's dream team in the early 90's ((that was when i fell in love with Barcelona) 2 years ago he took over the top job and in his first year they won every title (6 of them) they were competing for, his team includes star players such as Messi, Xavi, David Villa,  Iniesta and much more but on the side lines there is only one style star and its Pep Guardiloa. Under his management Barcelona plays the most entertaining, attacking and inspiring football out there or what we call "Sexy Football" ...Just like his personal style!
On the field  he usually sporting  sleek fitted suits in either black or Grey with a  fine European touch in the form of  white fitted shirts with skinny collar and skinny ties, and for colder times an addition of a thin V neck sweaters or a cardigan under the suit... always with either one hand in his side pant pocket or scratching his bold head...

Spring 2011 NY Fashion week - John Varvatos

John Varvatos was once again John varvatos for this spring 2011.... rockish, slim fitted, washed, aged, vintage inspired clothes with some great jackets and coats (loved the trench coats), in great quality. I read an interview with him about a week ago on WWD in celebration of his 10th Anniversary and learned about his background and  its very clear in the line where he is coming from which influenced him to designed from the perspective of the customer and not the designer...in other words its not about his Ego as a designer, its about what his customer need and want! And believe me not many designers can do that....
With all that said I'm not sure about the color story for the spring collection, yes it fits into the style but still we are talking SPRING you need to have some colors! the color story was more a fall presentation than spring.

Spring 2011 NY Fashion week - Marc by Marc Jacobs

The Marc guy should be loving this collection, and I'm sure he will have a blast choosing his wardrobe pieces for next spring....I think that even i can finally see my self in a Marc look! Easy fun suits tailored but in a cool downtown feel with ankle length pants in gathered waists and pleats worn over sneakers (what else is new...) and trench coats, trench coats and some more trench coats....but in fun and exciting versions like the classic longer version, or this contemporary rusted color one... and even a sleeveless version...Love it!
More photos after the jump.

Spring 2011 NY Fashion week - 3.1 Philip Lim

The Philip Lim Men's spring 2011collection had some pieces and looks that i really loved such as the more tailored and constructed ones, but on the other hand there were pieces that had the contiguous symptom of pushing the envelope but in the wrong direction which  is usually either too theatrical or too feminine (like in that case). It was not really clear enough for me who is the Philip Lim man.....therefore i will just concentrate on the pieces i personally liked.
More photos after the jump.

Spring 2011 NY Fashion week - Michael Bastian

The all American designer Michael Bastian adopted scuba diving as the Inspiration for spring his 2011 collection. At first i didn't think it sounded so promising until i saw the end result and for the most part i liked what I've seen. Yes there were some swimwear and diving pieces but for the most part the collection offers any American man who is a fan of the modern preppy style (which was a big theme all around this season) lots of good pieces for his spring wardrobe, especially the jackets and suits that looked tailored but effortless to wear. It is clearly once again that Michael knows what his customer is looking for and he does a great job offering it to him, and quite frankly i can see any guy no matter what his style is finding some pieces to work with it....even I who is not a fan of the preppy style would love to add some of these jackets to my wardrobe.
The only thing i would say is that he could have shown few less looks to make the presentation more focused...but hey, i can live with that. More Photos after the jump.

Style icon of the week - David Bowie

Well this next style icon does not need any introduction and in all honesty any extra word will just get in the way.....For me he is more like the style icon of a generation (or i should say of few generations...) than the week....David Bowie for me is one of the best musicians, artists, style icons and personalities out there (after all he is British......).....for a guy who influenced the world of music and fashion the way he did its kind of hard to decide what to concentrate on, so i decided to post the Bowie that i like which is the tailored Bowie, the cleaner and sharper one who is in suits, jackets and coats rather than the earlier avant-garde /theatrical outfits he sported back in the day....although i do like some of the suits and jackets with the big shoulders and big lapels he wore back than as well so i included some of these as well.... scroll and enjoy! much more photos after the jump.....