A touch of couture for men from the Italians in Paris The fashion circus has shifted once again, from Milan to Paris for the final round of the spring/summer 2014 menswear shows. It feels appropriate for the house of Valentino to open proceedings, not because they bridge the two nations - although as Italians who show in Paris they're a neat fusion - but because they epitomise a certain shift in aesthetic. There's a touch of couture to what they do, for men as well as women. Besides, Valentino is based in Rome rather than Milan. Which, as any Italian will tell you, makes all the difference. For next season, amongst the usual gumpf that fluffs out press notes, the Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli made reference to "the subversive rigour of the uniform." That meant fatigue shades of navy denim, khaki and olive-drab cottons, and camouflage paradoxically designed to get you noticed, intarsia-knit in sweaters or bonded with leather. It wasn't especially subversive, but it was desirable, if a touch derivative at times. That was, oddly, part of its charm, the way Chiuri and Piccioli managed to synthesise elements that cropped up in other collections - flat-folded envelope bags banded in fluoro, contrast-banded strips on suiting and Milan's prevalent palette of indigo - and twist them into something fresh. Something old, something new, something borrowed - and something blue, like the matching his "n" hers navy tuxes the duo took their bows in. His "n" hers is an idea Haider Ackermann has always taken to heart - when he showed his first looks for men as a one-off in Florence back in 2011, models trod out in peacock feather-embroidered slippers, draped in brocaded kimonos. In his first menswear presentation on the official Paris schedule, Ackermann stuck close to his well established modus operandi. The shapes were relaxed and eastern-inspired, with sarouel trousers wrapping the legs above shiny patent slippers, satin obi-folded around the hip, dandyish fringed scarves and silk jacquards in Renaissance tones. Those colours - amethyst, chartreuse and a cloudy tourmaline - were the standouts, especially in a season where the boys wear little other than blue, although Ackermann nailed that with a sapphire kimono-coat. The criticism? Squint and any of Ackermann's model squad could have been Tilda Swinton, an ardent Ackermann fan, sporting Haider for Her. Blurring genders is fine, but you hoped, from a talent like his, for a menswear aesthetic more clearly defined.