ESTE SITIO MUESTRA A LOS MEJORES MODELOS MASCULINOS DEL MUNDO

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JOHN VARVATOS SPRING 2014

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John Varvatos has spent several seasons extrapolating the idea of elegance. His customers, he says, want to dress up. «They know how to dress casually,» he said after his show. He’s offering a crash course in long-legged dressiness: a tall, trim take on suiting that’s equal parts classic rocker and Regency fop. (OK, maybe 60-40.)

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His jackets are elongated, three-button, and given an extra nip in at the waist by a waistcoat; his pants, narrow or boot-cut—a style now so out of general favor that it looks practically extraterrestrial. It gave you cause to consider that the high-water, ankle-baring pant length that currently enjoys near-universal dominance will, sooner or later, inevitably find its own time at an end. But probably not right now, and probably not at these hands.

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In any case, Varvatos’ elegance had a slept-in crumple, its linens creased, its leathers hand-distressed, as if they’d survived weeks on the road. Which is the ultimate Varvatosian fantasy. While working on the collection, he’d been editing John Varvatos: Rock in Fashion, a compendium of rock ‘n’ roll photography, and the influence of elegant, traveling men like Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, and Jimi Hendrix was scrawled here.

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The show ended with an updated bandleader’s jacket, the kind Hendrix liked, worn by a man who may be the closest doppelgänger the modeling world currently offers of Jimi himself.

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DISEÑADORES, MODELOS, SPRING 2014

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GANT BY MICHAEL BASTIAN SPRING 2013

The scene, imaginatively at least, at the latest Gant by Michael Bastian presentation was the Galapagos Islands. «It’s so funny, because everyone’s saying, ‘When did you go to the Galapagos?'» Bastian said. «The answer is never. But sometimes your idea of a place is even better than the reality. I did see the documentary on BBC America, which I encourage everybody to watch.»

Bastian dreamed up a pair of young backpackers making their way through the islands, dressed in a combination of their preppy best, their new island finds, and the technical gear necessary to weather the clime. That new technical gear, in the form of nylon windbreakers with Aertex linings, represented the newest category addition to the label. As for the rest, it was the better-than-basics it has been for several collections, with highlights including the camouflage cargo pants, knits (like a reversed Fair Isle), and Baja hoodies with South American motifs. Bastian has been designing the line for several seasons now—seven, precisely—he said as he surveyed the scene. It was meant to be one or two. 

That’s a measure of the sweet spot he’s hitting, as well as the good time he’s having doing it. No wonder he chose a voyager theme. «Gant’s like my vacation,» he said. «There’s never a very heavy emotional subtext to it; it’s just cool clothes.»

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DISEÑADORES, MODELOS, SPRING 2013

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RALPH LAUREN SPRING 2013

You may never walk a mile in Ralph Lauren’s shoes. You may have to walk a mile to Ralph Lauren’s shoes. A fashion spectator, invited into Lauren’s sweeping Madison Avenue showrooms, has a long journey ahead of him. The trip through the worlds of Purple Label, Black Label, Polo, and RLX—plus the Jeans iterations of at least a few of the preceding lines—seems to encompass at least one city block. Bring your hiking boots. Or borrow a pair of those on display.

First, Purple Label, the toniest jewel in the RL crown—the chairman of its board, if you will. The highest rollers won’t be disappointed by the three-piece tailoring and tailcoated evening options, though they may be surprised to find them newly snug, thanks to a slimmed silhouette. The sportswear offerings have been much expanded, from floral pants to hazard orange, bonded slickers, for the CEO who peacocks when he’s off the clock. Or perhaps just in acknowledgment of the fact that today’s CEO isn’t necessarily hoary. This is the age of the Instagram millionaire.

At Black Label, the story is brown. It’s the label’s new neutral, and it looks great against the country club pastels like lilac and sea foam that are RL standards. The Black Label denim gets in on the story, too, in weather-beaten sand tones.

ARTHUR SALES (SOUL ARTIST)

Polo is more relaxed, the college boy of the bunch, with natural shoulders and softer materials to match. The RL team has begun to mix it in with the technical-sport RLX collection, a move that’s brought a bit of freshness to both. The vibe is Outdoorsman in the Off Hours—which translates pretty directly to Men’s Fashion Editor in the On Hours. Leave on those hiking boots, in other words, but put on your blazer, too.

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DISEÑADORES, MODELOS, SPRING 2013

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ALEXANDER McQUEEN SPRING 2012 MENSAWEAR

«English rock,» the stated inspiration for the Alexander McQueen men’s show today, embraces a multitude of possibilities, from the indie-est shoe-gaze to the most flagrant theater, with armies of fans embracing each and every one of them. And that’s what seeped through the collection that Sarah Burton offered. Her love for what she does found a theme that loved her back.

It’s a funny coincidence that Raf Simons used the Jil Sander collection he showed the other day to telescope half a century’s worth of style into a single fashion statement. Burton made it easier on herself by more or less addressing one decade—the sixties—from its mod onset to its Dionysian conclusion. Although it wasn’t strictly Mick and the Stones that Burton had on her mind, you could whisk up a little through-line if you followed the show from its checked and striped beginning to the white-jeans-and-Chelsea-boots moment to the red-velvet dandyism to subverted Savile Row. Then there was that flouncy white thing Jagger wore for the band’s legendary free concert in Hyde Park followed by a climax in jet-beaded, fedora-ed decadence when rock’s «Satanic Majesties» danced with the devil and got burned by hellfire. All of this was happening while Stevie Ray Vaughan did his level best on the soundtrack to prove that he was Jimi Hendrix’s equal when it came to «Voodoo Child»‘s feedback freak-out.

Never mind reading too much into a fashion show, the dark drive of the presentation certainly played into the McQueen spirit. Burton continued to evolve what is becoming a signature dialogue between tailored precision and easy volume: a puce tail coat over elasticized-waist pajamalike pants, for instance, or a striped, double-breasted jacket over Lurex-shot pants that, again, could have been pj’s. She also struck a skillful balance between the measured—the three-piece suit—and the extreme—the flames that consumed a jacket and matching shirt. Those are two radically different markets right there, and signs are that Burton is perfectly capable of steering a steady course between them.

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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BALMAIN SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

The house of Balmain is in new hands, but fans of Christophe Decarnin’s moto-roué look won’t be disappointed by the first collection from his former assistant Olivier Rousteing. Whether Rousteing stages a farther departure from his boss’ example in women’s remains to be seen, but for menswear, he hewed close. Trim tux jackets (slightly longer than usual), paneled biker jeans, and leather jackets will always have a place here. New this season is a range of pieces in pastel: tees, scarves, and even those biker jeans now come in ice cream colors (lemon, mint, and orange), mottled to look sun-bleached. Also new: swimwear, printed denim (in an abstract feather pattern that will also figure in the women’s Resort collection), and a boxy new jacket shape, shorter and shorn of its lapels.

But all in all, this was a continuation, not a break. Maybe you could see the student stepping away from the teacher in the way he snipped off sleeves from jackets (tuxedo and denim), open-weave knits, and polos. Then again, maybe that’s just a summertime concession; even the cool Balmain homme can get hot. The luxe, at least, remained ever apparent; a motorcycle vest in full python saw to that. So did a shawl-collared jacket in croc, for the man who has everything but his own game preserve.

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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GIVENCHY SPRING 2012

Riccardo Tisci always wanted to be a surfer when he was a kid. He could never have known that the biggest luxury conglomerate in the world would one day wave its wand over his wish. And so it came to pass that Tisci got to create a collection of clothes that turned his childhood fantasy into an elaborate, provocative reality.

That’s been the story of Tisci’s life since he was taken on by LVMH six years ago to reanimate Givenchy. Fairy tales do come true. And truer. After establishing himself as the embodiment of fashion’s dark night of the Catholic-Gothic soul, Tisci has gone into the light with his new menswear collection. It was dawn in Givenchyworld—tropical-flower prints, crystals and sequins sparkling like dew on leaves, and white… so much white, banishing every trace of the black that has been Tisci’s trademark up to this point. More to the point, it was a triumph.

Who knows why all the elements that have looked so contrived over the years of Tisci’s stewardship of Givenchy should suddenly fall into place as logical, seductive revisions of fashion orthodoxy? Perhaps everything looks better when the sun shines. Maybe when it was dark and serious, it somehow seemed like a big old fashion-student cliché. Whereas here, it was simply unabashed and celebratory. Men in skirts? Get used to them. It’s warriorwear from years back. Besides, Tisci wasn’t about to get so literal with his Hawaiian subtext that he was going to show grass skirts.

Common sense dictates that it’s a rare retailer who’d be moving substantial amounts of Tisci’s pleated little numbers (even if, in white, they looked like Wimbledon wonders). But the upbeat energy of the collection animated its more sober components. Team Tisci’s sporty staples—the bombers, baseball jackets, sweats, tees, and shorts over leggings-were juiced with the bird-of-paradise prints. And his tailoring looked fresh in ivory and army green. That freshness was all promise, but everything about an exuberant post-show Tisci suggested he was ready to deliver.

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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JOHN GALLIANO SPRING 2012

John Galliano went to trial on Wednesday here in Paris, where a packed courtroom sat for seven hours, listening to the designer and witnesses remember (and not remember) the now-infamous evening at La Perle. And tonight, a no-less-packed house—standing-room types stood on stairways that climbed literally to the rafters—took in the first John Galliano menswear collection without Galliano.

Big Splash-as the show was named in homage to the 1974 David Hockney doc, A Bigger Splash—took sixties London for its stomping grounds. Pop Art scenemakers provided the juice. First Peter Blake, who inspired military coats and handcrafts like Navajo knits. Then David Hockney, he of the owlish glasses and the thatch of blond, the floppy bow ties, and the color-pop socks. The impossibly beautiful Peter Schlesinger—Hockney’s model, muse, and lover—was the basis for the tanned and trunk-clad hunks that made up the undies-and-swim portion that continues to be essential to any Galliano show. And the Mayfair and Soho after-party scene was an excuse (not a bad one, either) for evening deshabille: sausage-tight satin pants snaking with silvery pin details, Le Smokings sans shirts, and so on.

The mood was a smidge more pop (soundtrack by the Kinks!) and less operatic than some of the baroque snowfall-and-sandstorm spectacles the house namesake used to stage. But the clothes were not dissimilar from seasons past. Credit for that goes to the house’s stalwart guiding spirit, Bill Gaytten, a 23-year veteran of the label (and member of the Dior design studio where, at least for the present, he will also stay). He has long been as much a part of Galliano’s brand as the man himself. And after the final two models—long-haired, mustachioed JG doppelgangers—took their turns (just as the designer used to do a full runway spin), it was Gaytten who came out to give a timid bow to an appreciative roar. Dior CEO Sidney Toledano applauded from the front row. And so the world turns.

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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GIORGIO ARMANI SPRING 2012

Prints are a big story for next Spring’s menswear, but when Giorgio Armani titled his new collection Printwear, it was never going to mean a world of flowers or ikat or any of the other ideas that have already presented themselves for 2012. Subtle geometry was Armani’s concession to the coming trend, like the check on a sweater that quietly dissolved into ombré, or the zigzags and houndstooths fading out on a cotton shirt and pants so light they were almost gauzy.

Lightness is Armani’s current obsession, as we learned at Emporio the other day. But if that collection was pared to the point of plainness, this one showed why Armani is Uomo Numero Uno. A dove gray cardigan jacket swathing a sweater and pants was silvery and serene, but it’s scarcely new in the Armani vocabulary. There was, however, something going on with the jackets, with the way the fabrics molded smoothly across the shoulders, that you sensed rather than saw. Impossible to define. Maybe that’s exactly what it was—more definition without more structure. Masterful.

Elsewhere, Armani’s shifts in silhouettes were easier to nail. There was a slight flare to a double-breasted jacket. Generously cut trousers either tapered to the ankle, where they buttoned for a pegged effect, or were nipped at the knee to form a soft jodhpur shape. That’s how Armani manages to alter perceptions of the most basic components of a man’s wardrobe. Why you would be seduced by nipped-at-the-knee pants is a story for another time, but Armani is likely the only designer of his stature who could interest you in a pair.

Same with his shoes. The espadrille is the definitive holiday footwear of the leisured classes, but Armani took it into the city, slipping a rope sole under a brogue or a boat shoe. Maybe not as playfully extreme as Miuccia Prada’s potted history of the sole for the Spring just finished, but Armani’s mutant footwear probably has a better chance of insinuating itself into boardrooms. And where the shoe leads, the soul follows.

V

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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DSQUARE2 SPRING 2012

Dean and Dan Caten are twenty-first-century vaudevillians, incapable of presenting a new collection without couching it in a saucy variety show. Today’s revolving stage coughed up some sexy Scandinavian fisherman, a buffet of Mykonos beefcake, a couple of lower-the-temperature Romanragazzi, a handful of droogy rockers, and Kazaky, four dizzy queens from the Ukraine whose post-Gaga get-outta-my-way-bitch shtick involved a gravity-defying dance routine performed in skintight leather pants and sky-high heels. Phew! Oh, there were some clothes shown, too.

And there’s the rub. At this stage in the Catens’ career, what they do shouldn’t be so overshadowed by how they do it. Later this month, they’re launching a purely sartorial «Classic Collection,» which will highlight the fact that they’re capable of great, straight(-ish) tailoring. Smart move, especially when the tailoring was positively refreshing amid today’s hymn to the depilated male body beautiful. Their outerwear, too, continues to be a winning blend of form and function.

There’s no doubt that the twins live the Dsquared² dream, which counts for integrity in its own OTT way. But while they’re hiding their light under a great big homoerotic bushel that lost its wow factor a while back, it’s hard not to feel they’re selling themselves a little short. Maybe that’s what the «Classic Collection» is about—a new kind of stature. God knows they’ve worked for it.

MIGUEL IGLESIAS (WHY NOT)

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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JOHN RICHMOND SPRING 2012

John Richmond may be little known in the U.S., but his brand of rock ‘n’ roll-inflected sportswear has a sizable presence in Europe. His aesthetic has taken on a lot more Milanese flash than it had in the eighties, when he was based in London and designed as part of a team with Maria Cornejo. Today, in a show he dubbed a «couture reggae party,» he used prints based on Japanese tattoos to liven up tees and knits, and he laser-cut intricate patterns into a black leather shirt and sand-colored jackets. The enjoyable soundtrack mash-up included a burst of Althea & Donna’s cult reggae classic «Uptown Top Ranking.» You can forgive a man a lot for that, though not, perhaps, the perforated fuchsia loafers.

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DISEÑADORES, SPRING 2012

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