MILAN, Jan 18, 2006/ FW/ --- ‘Tuxedo Army’ was the title chosen for Neil Barrett’s latest offering. It was about as succinct a title as you could possibly wish for as he took two great staples of menswear - military and formal eveningwear - and fused them together to give a fresh interpretation of each.

As with almost everywhere else in the Milan season the fit was slim and the tailoring sharp to give sophisticated, tapered silhouettes, which managed to look both elegant and comfortably wearable.

Perhaps not as well known as some of his British compatriots showing in Milan, counting Brad Pitt amongst his fans Barrett must be doing something right. All in all this was a successful collection with which the designer should do very well.

Not surprisingly given the inspiration of the show, colors were drawn almost exclusively from black, white and shades of army green which put one in mind of second-hand battle fatigues while humour was inserted into the proceedings with cummerbunds incorporating jacket tails or simply printed directly onto T-shirts.

The cut was excellent throughout and with the intelligent details, luxurious fabrics and dog tag accessories it was sometimes difficult to tell if we were being encouraged to dress up or down.

Camouflage print ties were a good example of this as were smart black jeans with their democratic denim given the tuxedo effect with satin side stripes. Elsewhere silk bomber jackets and parkers covering ceremonial black tie eveningwear also bore witness to the general theme of the collection.

White cashmere long-johns may require a bit of courage off the runway but next winter we may all be marching to sound of Barrett’s drum.

Neil Barrett

Neil Barrett

Neil Barrett

Neil Barrett