Now that the Paris menswear shows are over, along with the entire spring/summer 2014 men’s catwalk season, what remains isn’t so much trends but matters of age – not the age of the designers themselves or the brands they head up, but the projected age of their target customer. Which is not what you would expect (youth). Instead, what was apparent was a growing diversity in menswear and a sense that men are increasingly interested in looking better – or even older.
Four houses in particular presented viable wardrobes for a grown-up consumer (ie, a man who’s earned the money to afford this stuff).
Berluti is only in its fourth season making clothes, but it has quickly established a signature louche wardrobe of functional separates made from enlightened cloth: a jacket that thinks it’s a shirt; a trenchcoat devoid of construction so that it can be packed up in a ball; a silk jacket with a ceramic coating that renders it waterproof and gives it the appearance of thin leather. Berluti’s clothes, designed by Alessandro Satori, are impressive enough but most striking of all is the strategy of owners LVMH, gunning hard for an older, wealthier but style-hungry customer.