Denim Roundup: Menswear SS2012 Fashion Week Part 1

What’s black and white and gray all over? That would be Dolce & Gabbana, Emporio Armani and Gucci‘s Spring-Summer 2012 menswear collection. For Milan Fashion Week, there were liberal amounts of gray separates and suiting, but brands didn’t really feature a lot of denim. As for D&G, that’s an entirely different story. We weren’t sure we loved it or hated it, but it was certainly visually appealing: denim for men was found throughout D&G SS2012 as a sort of trim: the waistbands of jeans were cut out and sewn into silk or linen shorts; silk scarf fabric was sewn into a chambray shirt and vice versa; and sometimes all three fabrics seemed to meld together in a seamless mashup of textile orgy.  Check out the gallery for detailed features from D&G and DSquared2.

D&G (left) sews jeans waistbands to various fabrics for SS2012, while Moshino goes retro and Rockabilly.

Dsquared2 was among the few fashion labels to retain bright colors in their collection for the season, while a great number of brands signaled their return to neutrals and muted tones in Milan.  In Paris, that was a different story!  Even as patterned suiting is returning in a big way, fashion brands seem to use denim as merely a backdrop in SS2012.  Prada took a page out of Lily Pulitzer’s spring sketchbook all while going golf resort-chic, while others like Burberry Prorsum, Bottega Veneta and DSquared2 channeled the seaside dock worker, complete with pea coats, woven tams and newsboy caps.  In Milan, no other fashion label showcased denim like D&G this season.  It’s a shame that many fashion houses still think that denim does not belong on the runway.  What brand do you think should have made denim a bigger deal in their SS2012 collection?

For more menswear fashion shows, check out our coverage of Bottega Veneta SS2012 and Burberry Prorsum SS2012.  All images via GQ Magazine UK.  Stay tuned for our Menswear Denim Roundup Part 2 next week!

—Kathy Ng Hassan

Tags: D&G, Denim Menswear, Dolce & Gabanna, Dsquared2, Gucci, Menswear @@2012, Milan Fashion Week, Moschino