What’s cool on the catwalk

Cut to Dolce & Gabbana’s in-town palazzo: the rich red velvets, zebra prints, gelati colours. No, that’s the decor — the collection itself is kept to a pared down palette of charcoal, khaki, dark burgundy and navy. Shapes are simple and slouchy, the feeling is softwear. Chunky knit sweaters, ample trousers hanging low on the hip, deconstructed jackets like swaddling blankets, all in heavy-texture double cashmeres, double wools and that thick, felt-effect alpaca which will turns up throughout the Milan season. All cosy enough, but cool, too.

Donatella Versace knows a thing or two about cool. She’s already demonstrated her street-style savvy at Versus and at the end of day one in Milan, she injects the same edgy, modern energy into her late brother’s label. As we expect from Versace, the collection is sexy; but Donatella’s measured restraint means that what would once tilt into tacky is kept streamlined and clean. Slimline suits come with fine diagonal stripes; leather trousers are topped with vibrant skinny knits under floor-sweeping coats.

Hooded and round-collared parkas are smart takes on high-style streetwear. Bleary-eyed, in the glaring white light at Jil Sander the next morning. Our Jil likes a lot of light, all the better to show off her crystal clear vision of men’s clothing: ultra-white shirt jackets over straight-cut grey wool flannel trousers; those round collared shell jackets she developed last season (this time in almost brittle microfibre which encases rather than clings to the body); felt, cut directly into apparently stiff but actually supple jackets; cashmere and wool, flattened out to look like canvas; big knits with cables running across shoulder seams. It’s hard to imagine clothing more simple but so integrally complex. Minimal, yes. Devoid of ideas, no.

Those looking for new ideas at Emporio Armani this seasonmay be disappointed, unless gaggles of beefcake straggling down the catwalk, brows furrowed in quest of enlightenment, is your idea of a good time. Armani’s sportier label clearly targets the chic streetwear client, but something gets lost in the move from Venice Beach to Bond Street. While some of the knitwear — especially the crossover and side-buttoning ribbed sweaters — are witty, and flared-leg pinstripe wool suits elegant enough, the hooded tops feel too Daddy-does-rap, the giant checks too post-post-grunge, and all that velours too fireside cocktail to be true.

Jean Paul Gaultier has ideas. Lots of them. And the best ones form a solid peg on which he hangs his entire collection. This season is a kind of goth-rock blend of leggy biker boys and hip(py) Teds let loose in each other’s wardrobes: black leather zipped jumpsuits are teamed with long, fine weave grey wool jackets. Voluminous taffeta coats, fit for the opera, come out over skinny rocker trousers and pointy boots. Boot-leg jersey trousers and quilted pique coats; drawstring wool pants with structured jackets or loose-knit metallic tops; ”unbuttoned” jeans printed on to cotton trousers — there’s a lot going on, but Gaultier’s skill lies precisely in his ability to bring all these apparently disparate elements together to form a coherent whole.

Tongues wag with words like ”the new Dolce & Gabbana”.

It’s a shame more people aren’t around to hear them. As D-Squared rock Milan’s Galleria, over at Gucci HQ, a hundred or so fashionable folk are sitting down to a lavish dinner thrown by Tom Ford to mark the launch of his new fragrance, Envy for Men, in a jet-black room with round white tables and long-stemmed white lilies. Sprint in, grab champagne glass. Take a seat just as promo video kicks in and 20 tanned and bare torsoed muscle boys glide around the room like ancient Greek eunuchs proferring their forearms to sniff.

By comparison, for this season’s Gucci show Ford chooses to play things uncharacteristically safe. Narrow tailoring in high-shine fabrics and fine weave wools, simple white shirts and silver ties — yes, this is safe by Gucci standards, Ford is the man who sends out men in nothing but G-strings boasting interlocking Gs after all — finish a largely monochromatic palette. Gucci man at his most relaxed wears indigo denims with orange over-stitching and oversized turn-ups and camel cashmere coats. At his most racy? Try hip-length Puffa jackets and flared, form-hugging ski-pants if you please. Leave Milan.