After a solid 15-year career in fashion, during which he s worked for labels as diverse as Lacroix and Blass, Lars Nilsson has landed himself the big job of filling the big man s shoes at Gianfranco Ferré. Which means, for the first time, he s designing a proper menswear collection. Nilsson opted for the quieter option of a presentation rather than a full-scale show, but in the hands of master set decorator Michael Howells, the tableaux highlighting the clothes were anything but low-key. Howells re-created the atmosphere of the famous 1930s Maison de Verre in Paris—enormous photos by Grant Delin lining the walls evoked the limpid male glamour of Horst s portraits from the same period—which served to enhance the discreet luxury of Nilsson s proposals for fall.
Nilsson has always had his own clothes made by a tailor, so he was keen to incorporate that experience, working with a handful of the most classic masculine elements—camel, navy, chalk-stripe, gray flannel, glen plaid—and a couple of silhouettes (one softly fitted, the other with a broad shoulder and a flared pant leg). The emphasis was on lightness of construction, which felt like the right move for a house that, under Gianfranco himself, was famous for its architectural weightiness. But Nilsson is as obsessed with detailing as Ferré was, pointing out the working buttonholes on a jacket sleeve, or proudly pulling open a mac to show its properly fused seams. This first collection layered tones and textures—a glen plaid suit paired with a shirt and tie in the same gray—for a subtle richness. That s why a pair of poured-on leather pants struck a bum note—how did Steven Tyler get in here? As an honorable mention, the superb shoes, handmade in Naples, were one more reminder that men s footwear is having one hell of a moment.
