Back in 2005, promotional shots of Saif Ali Khan before the release of Salaam Namaste created quite a buzz around the term ‘metrosexual’. Apparently, a pink vest was all it took to be labelled a man “in touch with his feminine side”. After dancing in front of a mirror in Kal Ho Naa Ho not very long ago, Saif now had the term tattooed on his forehead. The current obsession with androgyny nevertheless, gender has, for a long time, been colour-coded. Printed-coded too. Florals, for example, have been the domain of summer fashion for women — we’re not counting Hawaiian prints on holiday shirts.
The Spring/ Summer 2013 menswear show in Milan and Paris have thrown up a bouquet of sorts; everyone from Frida Giannini at Gucci, Sacha Walckhoff at Christian Lacroix, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim at Kenzo to Bill Gaytten at John Galliano and Lucas Ossendrijver and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin incorporated floral prints in some form. The use of print, though, was seldom dainty.
While the young creative directors of Kenzo introduced a camouflage-meets-floral version that came on half-sleeved shirts, at Lanvin it was head-to-toe (though the slim ties are more likely to distil into shoppers’ wardrobes). At Christian Lacroix florals came as spot prints on formal white shirts and T-shirts with rolled up sleeves. While giant lobster neckpieces kept the talk going at John Galliano, giant prints — snails, flowers, checks — were the more practical options.
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Korean designers Young Mi Woo and Jang Hee Woo and Rynshu of Japan were other labels that made florals the mainstay of their Spring/ Summer 2013 lines in Paris.
At Gucci in Milan, it was a clean, sports silhouette that became the base for a palette of blues, sorbet shades and floral prints.