In pink, orange and lime, this spring / summer 2022 jacket echoed the Marrakesh garden of the labels founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Courtesy Saint Laurent
In pink, orange and lime, this spring / summer 2022 jacket echoed the Marrakesh garden of the labels founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Courtesy Saint Laurent
For spring / summer 2022, Saint Laurent delivered shrunken jackets and skinny fit trousers, worn with winkle-picker shoes. Courtesy Saint Laurent
For spring / summer 2022, Saint Laurent delivered shrunken jackets and skinny fit trousers, worn with winkle-picker shoes. Courtesy Saint Laurent
A flash of bohemian decadence for spring / summer 2022, as Saint Laurent offered a slim cut velvet jacket. Courtesy Saint Laurent
A flash of bohemian decadence for spring / summer 2022, as Saint Laurent offered a slim cut velvet jacket. Courtesy Saint Laurent
Pin tuck shirts arrived with sequined bows for menswear spring / summer 2022 at Saint Laurent. Courtesy Saint Laurent
Pin tuck shirts arrived with sequined bows for menswear spring / summer 2022 at Saint Laurent. Courtesy Saint Laurent
A silk shirt, a brocade jacket and a velvet hat for Saint Laurent spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Saint Laurent.
A silk shirt, a brocade jacket and a velvet hat for Saint Laurent spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Saint Laurent.
This golden yellow cape was lifted straight from the 1983 fall haute couture collection for women, at Saint Laurent men's spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Saint Laurent
This golden yellow cape was lifted straight from the 1983 fall haute couture collection for women, at Saint Laurent men's spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Saint Laurent
At Comme des Garcons, hard masculine tailoring was softened with pretty floral patterns. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
At Comme des Garcons, hard masculine tailoring was softened with pretty floral patterns. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
For spring / summer 2022, Comme des Garcons mixed suiting with flowers that are rolled up to show leggings worn underneath. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
For spring / summer 2022, Comme des Garcons mixed suiting with flowers that are rolled up to show leggings worn underneath. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
At Comme des Garcons, for spring / summer 2022, a suit jacket has the bottom section replaced with a floral pattern fabric. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
At Comme des Garcons, for spring / summer 2022, a suit jacket has the bottom section replaced with a floral pattern fabric. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
A silk jacket is cut away, and worn over a floral trench coat at Comme des Garcons, for spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
A silk jacket is cut away, and worn over a floral trench coat at Comme des Garcons, for spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
For spring / summer 2022, Comme des Garcons has mixed the codes of menswear with the softness of flowers. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
For spring / summer 2022, Comme des Garcons has mixed the codes of menswear with the softness of flowers. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
An oversized pea coat becomes a hybrid with pink and yellow daisy fabric at Comme des Garcons for spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Comme des Garcons
An oversized pea coat becomes a hybrid with pink and yellow daisy fabric at Comme des Garcons for spring / summer 2022. Courtesy Comme des Garcons

Lifestyle

Luxury

Menswear spring/summer 2022 looks from Saint Laurent and Comme des Garcons

The fashion houses offer very different takes on feminine inspiration

Sarah Maisey

July 17, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Oh, how the once rigid fashion calendar has been upended. As the final outing of haute couture autumn 2021 wafted beautifully down the runway in Venice, elsewhere in the same city, Saint Laurent was showing off its spring / summer 2022 men’s collection.

A feminine touch at Saint Laurent for spring / summer 2022
A feminine touch at Saint Laurent for spring / summer 2022

Fittingly in the midst of a pandemic, the show was held on one of Venice’s many islands, Isola della Certosa, in a purpose-built all-mirrored set created by the artist and filmmaker Doug Aitken, and that echoed the Venice Architecture Biennale, happening simultaneously.

In an interesting take on what men’s fashion means today, director AnthonyVaccarello plundered the huge archive of Yves Saint Laurent for inspiration, in particular, the womenswear. Given that the founder rethought menswear for women, there is a pleasing symmetry to those same ideas now returning to men’s.

Click through our gallery above to see menswear spring / summer 2022 looks from Saint Laurent and Comme des Garcons.

In predominantly black, (a Vaccarello signature) shrunken tailored jackets arrived worn with fragile silk shirts with frilled fronts and cuffs in more than a nod to the New Romantics of the 1980s. Every top was worn open to the navel, while trousers, either super skinny or single pleat, were teamed with skinny belts and 1980s era buckled winkle pickers, or Glam Rock-esque platform boots.

The bohemia of the 1970s arrived as flowing blouses and floor-length capes, while the few jolts of colour mirrored the sun-drenched tones of Saint Laurent's Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, as a dazzling suit in cobalt blue, or punchy blouson jacket in pink, orange and lime.

Recycled from previous women’s collections, Vaccarello dressed his models in lace shirts and padded bolero jackets, as one look was taken straight from the archive with a golden yellow silk cape, which first appeared in the fall 1983 haute couture collection. With a frilled front and pie crust collar, it was mixed with tiny trousers and a huge attitude.

Comme des Garcons

At Comme des Garcons, Rei Kawakubo’s deconstruction was softened with pretty flowers and shown via video from Toyko. Famous for taking apart everything from suits to parkas, for spring / summer 2021, the effect was blended with the type of ditsy florals normally seen on kitchen aprons and girl's dresses.

The Comme des Garcons show mixed tailoring with florals
The Comme des Garcons show mixed tailoring with florals

The collection was a splendid mix of hard-edged tailoring, and soft, feminine touches. An oversized suit jacket came with the lower third replaced with pretty blue fabric, and came worn over a silk polka dot shirt that had been elongated to reach the knees, and flowery leggings.

Elsewhere, an overscale pea coat was now a 50/50 hybrid with a cherry yellow and pink daisy cloth, as baggy trousers in vaguely chintzy flowers were pushed up and gathered at the knees, and topped with an embroidered waistcoat and a long coat in a black on pink brocade. The pattern was flowers, naturally.

Opting for leggings rather than trousers for much of the collection, these were worn with shorts that barely peeked out from underneath long shirts, or from underneath layered, belted coats that were decked out in flowers.

A double-breasted suit in crisp white was covered in black blooms, that also lined a collarless leather coat, as another suit – this time with blue on white flowers – was rolled up to the knee with flowery leggings peeking out underneath. The sharp tailoring of a tuxedo in striped pink silk was carved with scalloped edges and was worn with a trench coat in a jaunty upholstery pattern.

Racecard

6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m  

6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m  

7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m  

7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m  

8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m  

8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m  

9.30pm: Balanchine Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m   

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

SQUADS

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage

Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

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Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

Updated: July 17, 2021, 11:16 AM`