Cerruti Paris SS10

Like most re-vamped fashion houses, Cerruti has a heavy heritage to keep alive. The problem - not just for Cerruti – have always been how you respect the traditions of the brand, at the same time as you push the boundaries and give the label a reason to exist today. Cerruti is, at the end of the day, about a good suit - and creative director Jean-Paul Knott has luckily continued to perfect that noble tradition. In many ways, Cerruti is a showroom label, since the supreme quality of the structured and refined fabrics can only be appreciated when feeling them.

For spring summer 2010, Knott had rented out Musée de l’Homme and filled it with a collection of minimal and simplistic designs. Had you had a chance of a closer you look, you would have seen that many of the tailored pieces came in a typical sportswear fabric, and the other way around. Knott successfully gave the clothes character by buttoning-up all the shirts, and removing any signs of ties. Additionally many shirts – and even coats – featured three-quarter-length sleeves, and as a way of showing off the design potential that lies within the entire Cerruti team, over sized t-shirts in both leather and suede was paraded down the catwalk.

That fabric combination continued in the shoes; classic desert boots in one half suede, one half leather. They were definitely a show highlight and a contender to the Best Shoe of the Paris SS10 menswear week title. The colour palette was reassuringly Cerruti inspired; monochrome with stylish spots of moss green, burgundy red and camel brown. This was Jean-Paul Knott's last Cerruti show, and the current edition of this classic brand has only been going for a few seasons, but there is no doubt that Cerruti is gearing up for a fight to re-take the Paris fashion crown. Watch this space.