The Old Guard Rediscovers Fur

Usually in Milan, if you were looking to set your sights on next season's trends in fur coats for men, you would look to Fendi or Bottega Veneta and even Valentino but not Armani or Prada. Well, this year is different. Armani and Prada's men's collections this year showed more fur than in recent history, some great, some ok, some a little odd, but either way, you'd be spoiled for choice.

First, Armani started lining just about everything in fur - shearlings, leather coats, leather jackets. Then he introduced a fur coat - it was a tricolor (sort of hyena colored) thigh length very furry coat. Lovely and the printed theme continued and the collection became more experimental. One fur jacket zipped up and the fur was printed in a zig zag pattern, reminiscent of a carpet pattern. Not everybody's taste, but the fur-lined parka that followed was definitely a winner. It was Armani at his classic best, but with a new indulgent twist.

His show was influenced by the indulgence and sensuality of the legendarily director Luchino Visconti and poet Gabriele d'Annunzio. Thus his foray into fur as the next level of luxury in his collection. The furs in the collection were shown amidst a collection heavy on velvet among other sensual textures. The mood was louche luxe and conjured images of Italy in the twenties and thirties.

Prada went in a different direction - no heroes of the 1920's for Muccia. Instead, as her show notes described, her latest collection for men landed somewhere between a caveman and a baby-boy doll. And that is pretty much what you got. Starting with a fuzzy white bomber jacket, worn with a fur vest, one very cave-man looking model wore a fuzzy vest, reminiscent of Barney Rubble in the Flintstones. One very fuzzy knee length bubble coat looked pretty cool but the fur tracksuit was just ridiculous. Muccia, like Fendi, introduced a bubble coat with three-quarter length sleeves. And then came a fur coat with a black neoprene cape over it that was also slightly ridiculous but sort of intriguing at the same time.

What started out as a relatively straightforward search for a new silhouette ended up as an extraordinary torrent of big, fuzzy-fabric tops over narrow leggings? The collection raised questions on how Muccia Prada must view the modern male. The shaggy black fur coats made the men definitely look like a cross between modern man and beast. Not sure what the message was here but the fact that Armani and Prada are jumping into the fur game sends a message, decipherable or not.

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