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MILAN, Jan 12, 2008 / FW/ --- As a fashion observer, it is very easy to admire Gaetano Navarra. He has his finger on the pulse of both the present and the future. For his Spring 2008 collection, he went cyber sailing, saying that the future is inevitable and 'ours' is in the form of technology. For Fall 2008, Navarra mined the past, bringing gothic and medieval elements in a collection that is visionary and exemplary.
In a climate of change, when the Internet generation is coming of age, a world that is just getting used to Web 2.0, Web 3.0 is being ushered in; global warming is a real concern and economies of G8 nations are faltering, Gaetano Navarra's dark gothic tales sprinkled with Jim Morrisson's gloomy vicissitude seem appropriate.
Shirts in regimental stripe fabrics that are almost worn out freshened up by frills and English embroidery, or organza, embraces the maudlin attitude of Jim Morrison.
Combat pants that look well worn, in rough cotton with visible zipper and tight leg, or ultra-fitting and plasticized with riders' patches, or in lead-grey fustian and all-black patent leather, or finally, sheepskin trouser brings the eccentric and camouflaged sensuality of Adam & The Ants.
These are not cookie-cutter looks. These are individualistic silhouettes, which are exactly to the taste of the echo boomers and the Internet generation who had always favored distinctive styles.
Is Gaetano Navarra just catering to the market? NO, he is not! Although fashion is changing, a lot of the fashion pundits who also call themselves stylists cling on to the fashion rules that they themselves created, refusing to accept that the world had moved on while "they" had become stagnant.
Gaetano Navarra is taking a bold step; even rebelling against the now passé standards that 'stylists' insist are still current. Call it rebellious freedom, because that is exactly Navarra's message for Fall 2008.
A clash of materials, cuts, accessories and proportions; a palette of black, khaki, taupe, beige, ice and lead, dense Bordeaux red - suddenly enlivened by a bold dash of vivid an intense color.
Coats in bird's eye cashmere dotted with large barbaric buttons in ruby glass. Boiled wool for veritable armor with a medieval twist, merinos wool knitwear, Scandinavian tresses, seed stitch and ribs to define and enhance at best the male anatomy.
Maxi jumpers in multi-color gauze that look like fur deflagrate on the mellow hues of the micro waistcoat in corduroy or breitschwanz velvet. Single or double-breasted tailor-made jackets and felt jackets, short and fitted, contouring the shapes of the body.
The shoe, simple and laced, is pointed and ultra-flat, in hammered patent leather, lead or two-toned: taupe and Bordeaux red, just like the sneaker that claims its stake on the evening, presenting itself in perfect tuxedo-look, dressed in glittering patent and suede.
To Gaetano Navarra, the time of the metro male and the metrosexual is gone. Today is the time of fashion freedom and Navarra has taken a gutsy move to proclaim it.
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