Photos of Haider Ackermann's Menswear Collection and Women's Resort 2011

After eight years of creating women's clothing, Haider Ackermann took his first pass at a men's collection as Pitti Uomo's guest designer in Florence. Ackermann is quick to explain his showing last night was not a menswear launch, rather taking advantage of an opportunity given to him by Pitti. The show was also the debut of his women's spring pre-collection.

Guests filed into the courtyard of the Palazzo Corsini where Ackermann's friend Jamie Bochert was performing. As for the clothes, Haider Ackermann's women were dripping in draped silks with hems hitting the floor, and his men were dressed in pajama-style silk harem pants with layers of untied open robes on top. His colorful slippers and her flat sandals added to feeling this couple was not unlike nomadic travelers. "My man had a life, whatever it is," said the designer a couple of days before his show. "He had a past. He’s been living, and he’s coming to peace now. But he had a highly coloured life."