LODEN DAGER SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

JOHNNY GEORGE (DNA)

Though Loden Dager‘s inspirations ranged from sixties Brazilian architecture to Paul Klee—as Paul Marlow explained at his studio a few days before showtime—the thing that rang clearest through the show was suburbia (and SubUrbia). Marlow imagined all the young dudes hanging out in parking lots, loitering, and lounging. The key moment was when Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s «Shimmy Shimmy Ya» (a.k.a. «Ooh Baby, I Like it Raw»), one of the white-boy radio-rap jams of the nineties, first came blasting through the speakers.

COREY BAPTISTE (VNY)

As the guys started walking (running, really) with their Nike sneaks and pants with one leg rolled up, you could have been outside any 7-Eleven across this great nation 15 years back. That’s a very specific nostalgia to channel, but if it hits you, the way it hits you is, well, raw.

SIMON VAN MEERVENNE (VNY)

In reality, the kids back then never got as polished as this. There were cuffed tailored shorts in place of droopy saggers, and double-faced jacquards for flat prints. A hoodie sweater Marlow called a «wet-suit cardigan» zipped (and unzipped) all the way up the back, hem to hood. Mesh insets in shorts, jackets, and tanks kept it sporty (and allowed for the clever little mesh pocket squares).

NICOLAS RIPOLL (WHILHELMINA)

It all came in vivid, saturated colors like royal, orange, cranberry, and fuchsia, as well as a few cool paisleys and a motif of graphic stripes. It’s been a bright season in menswear, but Loden Dager—last season’s atypically black, white, and gray collection aside—always skews bright. Consider it a confirmation of their talent that Marlow and co-designer Oliver Helden still found a way to stand out from the crowd.

ZERO + MARIA CORNEJO SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

CLEMENT CHABERNAUD (WHILHELMINA)

YURI PLESKUN (REQUEST)

 

Z ZEGNA SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

Alessandro Sartori, the man whose name was made for a career in menswear, must have felt the love as his last collection for Z Zegna got a special send-off yesterday. Gildo Zegna embraced him while the audience clapped and cheered.

The designer’s time at Z Zegna produced some of Milan’s oddest, edgiest menswear, and he saw himself out with a collection that did him proud. His vision for the brand was always a touch eccentric. (The affection for tail coats, for instance, revisited one last time in the finale here.)

There was something bold, almost cinematic about the way he exaggerated proportions. The broad-shouldered blouson with the wide-ribbed waistband had a superheroic slant. The baggy trousers that are practically his signature piece could have stepped out of a film noir.

Sartori called his collection My Abstract Sunday, so that might be why the sky blue and sunshine yellow; the blurry, painterly checks; the swingy A-line peacoat, as voluminous as a smock, suggested an artist’s day of rest. But that was ultimately less interesting than Sartori’s fascination with the technicalities of his job, which was, after all, the thing that made him so compatible with Zegna in the first place. You could stare at his fabrics and still not be absolutely sure what you were looking at, so glazed and rubberized and dyed and «vitrified» (that’s a good one) were they. 

The construction was also artful, illuminated with little details that demanded a double take: the white top-stitching on a navy safari suit, the white shirt collar on a mac, the sky blue trim on one lapel of a gray jacket. Sartori now takes his point of view to Berluti, where he has a blank slate to build a business. But Z Zegna will linger as an inspiring memory.

PERRY ELLIS SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

SEAN O’PRY (VNY) 

PERRY ELLIS SPRING 2012

Remember when the only men who wore capris were stylish Euros? Well, these days American guys are a lot more style-savvy. «I knew I was taking a risk with the capris,»Perry Ellis‘ creative director, John Crocco, said post-show. «But we had a few capri options for men in stores and they were selling really well, so I thought, Why not?» 

FRANCISCO LACHOWSKI (FORD)  

Cut cleanly in sand and white linen and ending a few inches below the knee, they were a nice companion to the salmon, mustardy ocher, and periwinkle jackets and knits. The colors were inspired by his recent travels to the Painted Desert in Arizona. «It’s about the traveler, the road trip meets safari,» Crocco explained.

SEAN HARJU (SOUL ARTIST)  

With plenty of linen, cotton, and an intriguing chintz-linen blend, plus roomy uncomplicated cuts, there was a pleasant, airy feel to the collection. Crocco added some approachable tailoring touches, such as suit trousers that hit at the ankle and a handsome white-on-white seersucker sport coat.

DAVID AGBODJI (REQUEST)  

When he did venture deeper into trends—a couple of color-blocked sweaters might look cheekily right on a svelte downtowner, but you could see the potential for disaster in the wrong hands—it was with a likable, gentle nudge most shoppers will likely respond to.

SIMON SPURR SPRING / SUMMER 2012 MENSWEAR

SIMON SPURR SPRING 2012

For Spring, Simon Spurr was thinking, he said, of English estate dressing: togs for fox-hunting and riding. There was a wartime cast to the collection, too: You saw it in the taped patterns that approximated strategy maps, and the suit patterned with «dazzle»—the World War I camouflage that prevents an enemy from discerning whether a ship is coming or going.

Spurr also played with mesh as a layering piece, like several other men’s designers this week, putting open-weave tanks with suits for a new take on the three-piece. Sometimes they took the place of shirts.

The line Spurr walks has always been between approachability and boundary-pushing. Recent seasons have seen him uptick the fashion quotient of his collections, and it was here that the collection made the occasional stumble. 

More successful were several tailored pieces that played up contrast: the raincoat with leather sleeves, the blazer with laminate lapels. They were cool in that old, sure-handed Spurr way. In everything but temperature, that is. This wasn’t exactly Spring lightness—in texture or color—but a tick in the box for Buy Now, Wear Now when the collection hits stores around January.

GANT BY MICHAEL BASTIAN SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

DAVID AXELL (CLICK)

Hawaii, not Manhattan, is officially the island of New York fashion week. All right, perhaps not officially, but it’s above and beyond the preferred destination this collection season. Add Michael Bastian to the luau-loving bunch, even though he has never actually visited the state. «What I know of Hawaii is from watching the Brady Bunch shows from the seventies,» the designer said at his Gantpresentation. «But sometimes your idea of something can be even better than the real thing.» Bastian’s dream combination of Hawaiian fever and seventies love translated into a hippie-dippie version of all-American classics. 

Even the models were cast with Marcia and Greg in mind. «This collection is about being happy and fun,» Bastian said, grinning ear to ear. «It’s about what you can throw into your bag for a summer weekend and just go.»

FRANCISCO LACHOWSKI (FORD)

For women, there were sweet sundress renditions. One saccharine frock had embroidered watermelons, smocking on the bodice, and straps that tied into floppy bows. Another floral-printed version was more attractive, if not for its roomy tunic fit, then for its nickname: the «Drunk Mommy dress,» Bastian called it. But it wasn’t only girly girls who were catered to. Tomboys also had options, in a rainbow-striped vest and cargo pants.

RODRIGO CALAZANS (NEXT)

Predictably, the men’s designs were stronger. Denim, in candy colors, was nicely tapered and rolled just above the ankle. Camo, amped up in red, was layered in with the requisite Hawaiian flower and tiki motifs. Bastian also showed a knack for tweaking rugby shirts with agreeable details such as an exaggerated contrast placket, or lacing instead of buttons. Swimwear, though, was where things really got fun. A pair of pink swim trunks with a hippo print was merry enough for both Maui and East Hampton. Meanwhile, one beefy male model seemed to be wearing nothing but a mint green Gant logo cotton tank top (if you looked closely, you could see tiny swim briefs underneath). If anything, it brought plenty of smiles all around.

JEREMY SCOTT SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

TRAVIS CANNATA (FORD)

Jeremy Scott’s invitation was a beach-and-palms picture postcard—»Greetings From Paradise!»—and on the back, in Scott’s scrawl, «Wish you were here.» It was tempting to think that, in the current moment of Hawaiiana, which has found an unlikely following among a number of designers, Scott was going to go all-out and put on a luau the likes of which this trend has never seen.

SEBASTIAN SAUVÉ (SOUL ARTIST)

Over the top of over-the-top is his calling card, after all. But you can expect this designer to shy away from the expected. What Scott turned out instead was a freckled fantasy of life back on the farm, refracted through Hollywood lenses. Elly May Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies was the collection’s guiding light, though you could see Miss Daisy Duke in the mix, too. Country-boy bandannas were done up in metal mesh and turned into handkerchief minidresses. Bib overalls were cut and pasted into skirts and halter tops. There were cow prints for country cute, but also cactus motifs out of Santa Fe. Why? Don’t ask. Scott sent out a dress dangling giant question marks. There’s the only answer you’ll get.

RIVER VIIPERI (SOUL ARTIST)

Few designers can claim to have followed the Clampett example, but as Scott pointed out backstage, he grew up on a farm outside of Kansas City, Missouri, and eventually hightailed it, Beverly Hillbillies-style, to Hollywood.

The show was a return of sorts, and, as the designer said with a laugh backstage, «there’s no place like home.» The personal connection might have lent an intimacy to the proceedings, but actually this offering felt a little more remote than some of a recent vintage, like the remember-those-days gods-and-party-monsters collection from Fall 2011. The saving grace turned out to be the shoes, in particular, needle-nosed creepers for the guys—a preview of Scott’s Adidas collaboration to come.

LODEN DAGER SPRING / SUMMER 2012 MENSWEAR

Though Loden Dager’s inspirations ranged from sixties Brazilian architecture to Paul Klee—as Paul Marlow explained at his studio a few days before showtime—the thing that rang clearest through the show was suburbia (and SubUrbia). Marlow imagined all the young dudes hanging out in parking lots, loitering, and lounging. The key moment was when Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s «Shimmy Shimmy Ya» (a.k.a. «Ooh Baby, I Like it Raw»), one of the white-boy radio-rap jams of the nineties, first came blasting through the speakers.

As the guys started walking (running, really) with their Nike sneaks and pants with one leg rolled up, you could have been outside any 7-Eleven across this great nation 15 years back. That’s a very specific nostalgia to channel, but if it hits you, the way it hits you is, well, raw.

In reality, the kids back then never got as polished as this. There were cuffed tailored shorts in place of droopy saggers, and double-faced jacquards for flat prints. A hoodie sweater Marlow called a «wet-suit cardigan» zipped (and unzipped) all the way up the back, hem to hood. Mesh insets in shorts, jackets, and tanks kept it sporty (and allowed for the clever little mesh pocket squares).

It all came in vivid, saturated colors like royal, orange, cranberry, and fuchsia, as well as a few cool paisleys and a motif of graphic stripes. It’s been a bright season in menswear, but Loden Dager—last season’s atypically black, white, and gray collection aside—always skews bright. Consider it a confirmation of their talent that Marlow and co-designer Oliver Helden still found a way to stand out from the crowd.

 

TOMMY HILFIGER SPRING / SUMMER 2012 MENSWEAR

The catchall name of this collection, Modern Prep, is one you’ve no doubt heard before from Tommy Hilfiger. It’s essentially his raison d’être. But this particular interpretation of it, likely conceived with great input from consulting designer Simon Spurr and stylist Karl Templer, pushed a more pointed fashion agenda than Hilfiger’s ever done. 

Though the collection cycled through various motifs of Americana—from camouflage to varsity jackets and chinos to seersucker and sailor stripes—there was something distinctly European in its stance. You saw it in the savvy slimmed silhouettes, the knit polos, the handheld bags, the avant-garde look of sailor stripes splashed onto pant legs. Maine and Main Street via Milan (and a bit by way of Tokyo).

The irony, as one men’s editor pointed out after the show, is that preppiness served straight-up is what’s being fetishized these days outside the good old U.S. of A. Witness the success of Hilfiger’s own Prep World pop-up, which toured through Europe this summer. There’s a risk that if preppiness gets too sophisticated, something might get lost in translation.

Nevertheless, Hilfiger clearly wants to up his fashion ante, and in that respect, this collection had meat—and certainly gave everyone a little something to chew on.

 

ALEXIS MABILE SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

Fashion shows are occasionally obscure in their reasoning and impenetrable in their semiotics, but give Alexis Mabille credit: The opening tableau of his Spring show told you everything you needed to know. Four models in rolled white cargo pants, espadrilles, and printed tees stood side by side.

The first’s top read «ALEXIS M’HABILLE» (that’s «Alexis dresses me,» the verb pronounced just like his surname). The second: «ALEXIS ME DESHABILLE» («Alexis undresses me»). And with that, the models whipped off shirts and dropped trou. Voila: Mabille’s new underwear collection, created in collaboration with the skivvies label Hom.

Briefs are big business (just ask Calvin), so hard to blame Mabille for branching out. Backstage, he noted that their entry-level price point would open up his brand to an entirely new clientele. He mentioned that with his clothes—interior and exterior—he’s always been interested in the inner workings and structures as much as the outer shows. «I wanted to go inside,» he said.

The collection’s nominal theme was bain de soleil—»sunbath»—which accounts a bit for the disrobing (in some cases, shedding actual robes). Summer by the sea called for swimwear in addition to underwear; lightweight suiting pieces, a few with a brocade chain pattern snaking up the legs and around the waists; and numerous twists and turns on marinièrestripes, from those peeking out from the lapels of a gray jersey peacoat to others adorning a cotton-knit poncho.