Sport back in menswear

Italian menswear has seen a return to sport for next season - and not just because Giorgio Armani had guys in suits cycling down the runway for the finale of his Emporio show. Etro also had sport in mind for spring, and had fun with a Jules Verne-style flying machine riding above the runway. Lively colours, bold patterns and interesting textures, were judiciously used on lightly tailored clothes.

With a video of a sea swelling behind them, "beautiful" boys stepped out in a computer-enhanced update of the flower-patterned shirts seen on a young Valentino. And at Dell'Acqua's sports-inspired show, there were tan leather trims on a canvas jacket to inserts of stretch fabrics at the pressure points of knees and elbows.

At Menichetti, the message that came across most strongly was of sportswear, from a seersucker shirt worn with leather pants through a striped blazer, unlined and super-light.