Trussardi 1911コミュの2009　FW　MEN

January 17, 2009

Milan Vukmirovic, who was one of the founding forces behind the quasi-legendary Parisian lifestyle emporium Colette, has the sharp eye of a great store buyer. But three seasons into his stint as artistic director of the Italian luxury house Trussardi, he hasn't yet developed the single-minded vision of a great ready-to-wear designer. The program notes for his Fall 2009 collection cited the contemporary British singer-songwriter Charlie Winston, Midnight Cowboy, and the "equestrian world." Okay, let's see: a neo-folk musician who turns tricks in Times Square and then rides off into the sunset? Well, not quite. Speaking backstage after the show, Vukmirovic preferred to couch it as "an English dandy going West."

That's an evocative concept, but a hard one to nail down. Some looks in this lineup of muted grays, browns, and navy blues aimed for the sort of coolly anonymous luxury that Tomas Maier has brought to Bottega Veneta. Others (a fringe-fronted suede bomber jacket, bags made of "70-year-old crocodile skins") had the more ostentatious refinement of a house like Salvatore Ferragamo. Still others (the leather pants, the shiny gold jeans, the leather harnesses strapped on top of jackets) seemed to be galloping toward Tom of Finland territory.

And yet, when he's at the top of his game, Vukmirovic is on to something. He has a real knack for making basic items seductive, whether a pared-down, peak-lapel gray herringbone coat; a sleek black puffer jacket with a slightly elongated tail; or a fresh-looking holdall in an oversize gray check. When he corrals his instincts in this direction, he justifies the faith Trussardi, one of the few labels still in any kind of expansion mode, is placing in him.

— Dirk Standen

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