2005 fashion man winter

Conservative is a dirty word in designer fashion, with connotations of safety and mediocrity. So when day one of the Milan autumn/winter 2005 menswear shows closed with a sombre, almost all- black Versace collection, the C-word reared its ugly head.

As the week progressed, Dolce & Gabbana and Gianfranco Ferre showed double- breasted grey pinstripe suits over white shirts and black ties, with square, Clark Kent spectacles. Prada did away with the usual gimmicks in favour of classic camel cashmere suiting and Roberto Cavalli showed in what looked like Dumbledore's study, complete with leather Chesterfields and dusty book shelves.

When the camp Canadian twins Dean and Dan Caten, designers of Dsquared, turned their catwalk into a Puritan chapel and released doves from above, it was as if Graham Norton had taken holy orders. Fashion seemed to be in a penitent mood and determined to show commercial, conservative clothing for once, rather than Milan's usual flashy, sassy excess.

Milan was indeed more commercial this season, and all the better for it. But the overall mood was one of heroic elegance rather than dull conservatism. Dolce & Gabbana's sexy double-breasted pinstripe suits were merely one chapter in a show that took action men from the gym to the nightclub. Silky sweats and boxing shorts shared the runway with velvet tuxedo jackets, swashbuckling tobacco suede trousers, shaggy shearling hunting coats and riding boots. Dolce sculpts the hottest jeans in Milan, which were shredded, studded and skin-tight, and had combat patch pockets. Dolce makes menswear sexy but never vulgar.

Versace built an empire on the brash excesses of the 1980s. With a new menswear design team and the CEO Giancarlo Di Riso behind her, Donatella Versace showed a collection in keeping with the times. Almost exclusively in black, except for a touch of lavender in a roll- neck sweater or a silk shirt in elegant art nouveau swirls, the collection was brooding but chic. Donatella's show was one of the most successful uses of this season's star fabric, velvet, including curvaceous black tux jackets with satin- bound seams.

After John Ray's nervous debut collection for Gucci last season, this show saw him win the fight for his right to follow the charismatic Tom Ford. With a rich palette of black, oyster, white and dove grey, he refined Gucci and made it elegant rather than arrogant. Astrakhan coats in black and silver were shown with oyster velvet suits, cable-knit cashmere sweaters and white trench coats. The jackets were fitted but the trousers were softer and more flowing. The eveningwear section came straight out of Luchino Visconti's The Leopard, with tails, smoking jackets and silk dressing gowns.

The founding fathers of Milanese fashion, Giorgio Armani, Gianfranco Ferre and Valentino, always produce elegant clothing. Valentino's is a world of black tie and sable-collared cloaks for the opera, shearling or mink coats for Aspen, and luxurious, smoky grey knits and slacks for winters on the Isle of Capri. Ferre is physically and aesthetically slimmer this season. He was on-trend with pinstripe suits, top-stitched Aviator jackets, glittering plaid blazers and scads of fur, but a blazer and duffel coat in buttercup yellow demonstrated his fresh attitude.

Armani braved a dhoti-style trouser, which only his devotees will wear. His lightness of touch - with sheepskin coats, velvet suits and silk/cashmere jackets - proved that Armani's softly sculpted look is timelessly elegant. But it was his Emporio Armani collection that showed he can still compete with designers half his age (70). Elements of sportswear, weekend, work and evening wear were effortlessly blended into a classy, contemporary wardrobe. Glittering satin jackets looked cool in navy with discreet diamond lapel pins. Long fox-fur scarves over rib-knit cardigans nodded to the Night of the Hunter theme in Milan.

Armani, Valentino and Ferre attempted the cape, a look that only Raf Simons can get right. So too did Burberry Prorsum in a laminated check, but this was the only duff note in a debonair, confident collection. For autumn/winter 2005, the Prorsum designer Christopher Bailey moved away from his usual primary-coloured, collegiate silhouette. The result was a more masculine, cavalier collection. Textures were more subtle as with the desirable William Morris- inspired shirts, ties and horn-handled umbrellas. The colours were richer in sapphire velvet duffel coats, emerald tailored jackets with extravagant hoods and tartan-panelled cardigans shown with shirts and ties. The tailoring was reminiscent of the 1960s Savile Row genius Tommy Nutter - tight black double-breasted jackets with high collars and drainpipe trousers.

Eccentrically English tailoring such as Prorsum's was a neat counterbalance to the Italian elegance. Jasper Conran, a fellow Brit, was similarly smitten by the Portobello Road peacock circa 1969. Floppy hats, velvet suits and skinny roll necks were funky as well as de luxe. Shaggy white sheepskins, frilled cocktail shirts and satin evening trousers could have been a pastiche of Austin Powers were Conran not such an expert tailor.

Cavalli is another designer prone to excess. Though not as penitent, he was in a more modest mood. Instead of Eurotrash glitz, he produced an aristocratic collection inspired by predatory men. He loves hides, furs and skins and this season he played with patchwork techniques that roughed up these precious materials. Velvet, satin, python, patent and crocodile were rendered in black, scarab green and ink brown. Jackets cut fencing style, knee-length hunting boots and collars trimmed with beaver, chinchilla and fox were made for modern buccaneers.

Pringle of Scotland's position on day one of the Milan shows gave this brave house a boost. We expect tartans and argyles from the designer, Stuart Stockdale. By the end of the week we'd seen Burberry Prorsum, Vivienne Westwood, Armani and Prada all propose tartans, Harris tweeds and checks. Pringle nailed down the rough, warrior- like elegance of the season with Glasgow Rockabilly boot-boys (wearing tartan brothel creepers) modelling tough biker leathers, tartan trews and jewel-bright cashmere corduroy.

Elegant the season may be but all the houses are trying to encourage men to part with their cash. They know the tailored jacket and relaxed pant is a look men won't abandon, hence the proliferation of hooded, Mao-collared or embroidered tartan tailored jackets. The tuxedo and velvet evening suit, on practically every runway, echoed Ford's tenure at Gucci. To invoke Trollope, "He knew he was right."

In Milan, as opposed to Paris, young talent can get lost. Neil Barrett, however, has managed to carve a niche for himself with his battered elegance. Barrett uses velvets and fine leathers but he washes, dyes and crushes them to dress them down. The former Burberry Prorsum designer Roberto Menichetti's own-label debut was one of the finest shows in Milan. A model skate-boarding down the runway in a coffee, cream and chocolate quilted coat and oatmeal pants set the tone. Working with this tasty palette, he showed leather pants with sheer knits, velvet frock coats and pinstripe pants. Of all the labels, Menichetti's and Bottega Veneta's were the ones in which every outfit was desirable.

The collection of Mihara Yasuhiro, another newcomer, was shown in a disused, tiled butcher's shop accompanied only by a scratchy album on a children's record player. The presentation was more East End than Milan. Using distressed, patchworked, burnt-on collars and cuffs, the collection was a detour after the polished elegance - an experiment that almost worked.

Etro, too, likes raw-edged Harris tweed check coats, floral chintz patchwork and mad trims. But the exuberance of Etro's Man-Wash show was more like a party than a lesson in conceptual fashion. No wonder Etro is a bestseller in New York's Bergdorf Goodman. Every man needs one piece of Etro to cheer up his closet. Rich purple velvet pants, satin pinstripe shirts and lavender velvet suits are what you might call "happy clothes".

There was nothing happy about Alexander McQueen's second menswear show in Milan. The concept was gang warfare; models showed clothes inspired by the films La Haine and La Reine Margot. With faces painted like LA street warriors, they thumped down the catwalk with aristocratic swagger. McQueen's tailoring is as precise as a knife- wielding surgeon. Shoulders are pinched, waists squeezed and trousers cut to restrict.