the most wonderful time of the year

Prada’s New Menswear Collection Contains Disturbing Harvard References

The most wonderful time of the year is finally upon us: Men’s Fashion Week! The fall 2010 shows began over the weekend in Milan, and the overarching trend seems to be that designers are playing it safe for yet another season, after sales of menswear declined almost 10 percent in 2009 from the previous year. Buyers don’t want anything too crazy, since flash is still out. However, the beauty of menswear is that even when designers think they’re playing it safe, the clothes they put on the runway would still look absurd on average dudes. Miuccia Prada liked her supposedly safe collection so much she sent out a his and her version of many looks. “It’s time to reinvent the banal,” she told the AP. Daniela Petroff writes:


Without using the word “preppy,” the trendsetting designer nevertheless presented a collection that would make anyone feel right at home in Harvard Yard, with tweed blazers to crew neck pullovers and casual slacks.

… The “preppy” collection shown Sunday is so normal it might have risked boredom were it not for the Prada fashion genius. Thus a simple crew neck sweater has an almost plunging neckline and is cropped temptingly above the waist to reveal the classic blue shirt underneath.

We’re disturbed. Not by the tight cropped sweaters, for we’ve always been a proponent of men showing their figures and wearing less clothing. While women have taken to wearing lace body stockings and leotards under their trendy new crop tops, we’d love to see men (well, those with nice abs) sport their crop tops with nothing underneath. But since when is Harvard a fashion point of reference? First they launch a fancy clothing line and get tons of press for it, and now Prada’s critically praised men’s collection is credited with Harvard Yard influences. Even if Harvard kids would never wear this stuff (or most things remotely more interesting than boat shoes with no socks), the problem is, the world doesn’t need them to think themselves any more important or WONDERFUL than they already think they are.

Italian Menswear Combats Economy With Boring, Safe Shows [HuffPo]

See Prada’s complete fall 2010 men’s collection.

Prada’s New Menswear Collection Contains Disturbing Harvard References