Menswear — Page 20

Gents Spring 2015

September 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Fisticuffs anyone? Whether you want to box or love the manly sport of Fisticuffs, Gents’ CEO Josh Reed looked to the macho sport for inspiration for the brands spring 2015 collection. Reed also infused the collection with Formula I race car references expressed in the clean lines and traditional racecar color palettes.

“Color plays a huge part for us this season and each tone has a meaning behind it. This season’s color ways represent positivity, masculine energy, and conveys strength and courage; it truly goes hand-in-hand with our inspiration,” details Reed.

Since Gents launched in 2012, Josh Reed has focused the lifestyle brand on a high quality product and a fashionable design aesthetic. This season, however, Reed is pushing Gents to embrace masculine motifs. “Whereas fall 2014 was focused on the brand’s expansion, spring 2015 is more thematic and hones in on the high quality product we’re known to make.” Explains Reed.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Gents’ color palette this season ranged from the warm tones of blue and red to transitional undertones of grey, navy, black, and white. And though the collection centered on active/athletic wear as daywear; perhaps, the very wearable garments needed some more interesting design elements. Retail value is important to any collection, particularly menswear line; still, fashionable male consumers are looking for garments that go beyond the tried and true. And to this respect, Gents fell a little flat.

—William S. Gooch

Bespoken Spring 2015

September 5, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

Bespoken’s creative directors Lian and Sammy Fayed play up the idea that less is more in their spring 2015 collection. They posit the point of view that the male consumer wants fashionable, easy, relaxed clothes that fit into their everyday lives. In that respect, the Fayeds are correct. Still, menswear staples or clothes that men can wear at every jointure of their day still needs to have some element of a wow factor. And in this collection, the wow moments were few and far between.

Though were some pieces that were eye catching, Bespoken’s color-blocked ocean blue and navy jacket, and grey print suit, most of the somber looks in this collection fail to register. One thing that can be said about this collection is that the tailoring and fit is spot on.

It is difficult to come up with attention-grabbing collections every season, and interesting, innovative silhouettes are hard to come by. Still, the American mal consumer—though slow to evolve his fashion quotient—wants more that a nice jacket and fitted slacks. That is not to say there is a little retail viability in this season’s outing; there is. However, a little more splash of color and adventure would have done this collection a lot of good.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Better luck next time, guys!!

—William S. Gooch

W.R.K. Spring 2015

September 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

W.R.K. looks to occupations that produce strong personalities for inspiration. For spring 2015, the brand focused on Formula I racecar driving with British champion James Hunt as their point man. The British race colors of vibrant green and blue dominant in this collection, as well as fire-retardant fabrics, and racer-inspired silhouettes.

Creative director Matteo Gottardi uses lots of layering in this collection, rendering some of the looks in this outing more attuned to pre-spring or climates that don’t warm up until mid-May. Still, overall this spring collection can be embraced by range of male consumers who are looking for stylish, comfortable clothes with a patina or fashion-forward sensibility.

The name of the game for Gottardi in this collection was the embellishments and details. Gottardi employed reinforced seams and articulated sleeves that can be found in racecar drivers uniforms, but also serve swell for the consumer looking detailed craftsmanship.

The stretchable fabrics in this collection facilitate mobility and ease of movement; while racing flags, garage oil stains, tiremarks and all things racecar inspired the prints. And though there are a lot of neutrals in this collection, the pops of color expressed in vibrant hues of blue and green elevated this collection from what could have been a somber distillation on color.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Though there were no breakout silhouettes and fabric combinations in this spring collection, Gottardi has created some garments that will appeal to a wide range of male consumers. Innovative textile combinations and silhouettes aside, clothes still have to have retail value, and with this collection Gottardi has positioned W.R.K. for spring 2015 market appeal.

—William S. Gooch

B. Michael America Fall 2014

February 14, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

“Quintessential American”—B Michael’s description of his fall 2014 collection—surely sums up the designer’s fashion feast for next season. This collection provides selections for almost any occasion, from daywear, to cocktail hour or on to a masquerade ball, for both women and men.

The “Urban Chic” and “Town and Country” clusters were his daytime wear of dresses, jackets and suits in cashmere, wool jersey and wool boucle, designed for women, who want to be classic and comfortable. Standouts included a two-piece dress of cashmere and wool with a layered V-shaped collar, and a scarlet red, doubled-faced wool jersey dress with an exaggerated collar jacket. For the men, one of the standouts was a red brick-colored eight-button suit made with a cashmere and wool blend.

For the “Good Times” cocktail dresses, the designer worked with silk mikado, a silk blend popular for wedding dresses because it is heavier than regular silk, for several dresses. B. Michael added texture to it with embroidery or sometimes using an Italian lace overlay. One outstanding creation was a lavender floral printed silk mikado with a billow sleeve demi jacket and a ruched hem. B. Michael added dimension and contrast to a black wool crepe sheath by making the empire bodice of embroidered silk mikado, resembling strains of DNA.

For the “Illusion” of eveningwear B. Michael unveiled classic strapless, drop shoulder and off-the-shoulder ball gowns, as well as halter-top and cap sleeve cuts. The models wore elegant jeweled masks, which added a dramatic dimension to the gowns. B Michael worked with hammered silk, lacquered-feathered velvet, embroidered silk chiffon, and confetti embroidered silk organza giving birth to beautifully textured creations with rustle and flow.

Images courtesy of Presley Ann Slack

B. Michael also married black to bronze and used metallic fabrics and embellishments to add light. Most notable was a black wool crepe low waist gown with a river of bronze metallic boucle flowing down the front of the gown. Also, a black hammered silk strapless steeple bust gown with confetti embroidered silk organza with a waterfall train made an impression. A perfect pairing with either of these dresses would be the men’s granite, Italian boucle shawl collar jacket with black silk and wool blended Hollywood trousers.

“Deliberately glamorous evening wear,” B Michael says in his run of show notes, “reminds us of our appetite for luxury … It’s all American.”

—Francesca Simon

Skingraft Fall 2014

February 12, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

Skingraft’s quest for world domination is looking better than ever. The brand has already amassed a following of celebrity taste makers such as Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, and Tyson Chandler. In May of 2013, they opened a store in New York City (adding to their LA location). For the third jewel in their crown, Skingraft showed their collection at “The Tents” of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, a first for the brand.

For Skingraft’s fall 2014 collection, designer Jonny Cota was inspired by the idea of drastic climate change and an inevitable return to a dystopian survivalist future. He wanted a collection that would feel as though it could survive in harsh climates, building the collection on a theme around Siberian, Mongolian, and Arctic tribal cultures.

Details and small intricacies are part of the design aesthetic of Skingraft’s brand DNA. Infusing fabrications of hand-quilted leather and mohair, shaved pony hair, ribbed nylon-fused fleece, and wool knit, Skingraft is not just your average streetwear brand.

Skingraft looks to also provide a touch of luxe to whatever they do—like incorporating silk twill or intricate embroideries detailed with leather and metal jewels. Able to handle the duality of a woman— the idea of hard and soft—while being able to cater to the preciseness of a man, this collection shows how well the brand is able to keep pace with the ever-changing industry.

A few standout pieces of the menswear portion featured men’s skirts with the word “Alpha” emblazoned across the front, leather drop-crotch pants, leather ALPHA bomber jackets that gave the illusion of almost being sculpted out of stone, and hooded wool wrap trench coats. While the collection was mostly in Skingraft’s usual all-black color palette, Cota did incorporate indigo, olive, and gold detailing.

On the women’s wear side, a beautiful gold embroidered Mongolian skirt was the standout piece that embodied Skingraft’s concept of tribal print. Another noteworthy creation was a gorgeous indigo leather hand-quilted hooded crossover coat. With much emphasis put on the wolf, one of the few animals that can have an “Alpha” male or female in their social group, Cota furthered the motif by incorporating wolf-like ears on both the men’s and women’s caps, hats, and beanies.

Images courtesy of wwd.com

As the collection marched down the runway with the final walk, you got a sense of a brand cementing a path that separates them from your typical run-of-the mill streetwear companies and establishes itself as a brand that is really pushing forward the idea of design, making for a well-deserved MercedesBenz Fashion Week debut!

—John Woody

Kim Seo Ryong Fall 2014

February 12, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Kim Seo Ryong’s fall 2014 presentation was about falling back in love with the classic American menswear silhouette. This season the collection distanced itself from a European styled fit. This new direction may be a liberation of some sort for any man looking to reclaim comfortable clothes while being effortlessly stylish.

For this season’s color palette, Ryong decided to include a lot of black, as well as traditional neutrals with pops of lime green, purple, and red throughout the collection. These bold pops of color, that were somewhat reminiscent of a spring color palette could be real head turner for any man bold enough to wear these colors during colder temperatures.

Images courtesy of Presley Anne Slack

Though there were some suits in unconventional colors and prints such as a burnt green tweed suit, lavender suit, and a plaid suit, what stood out more was Ryong’s use of tweeds, houndstooth print, and the dramatically long sport coats. This more classic point view combined with Ryong’s use of bold color helps to establish Ryong’s signature voice and the brand’s DNA. Instead of trying it hit menswear consumer over the head with an avant-garde aesthetic, Ryong is relying on melding the two worlds of comfort and fashion-forward sensibility.

All in all this fall 2014 collection was upbeat and cohesive where it needed to be without establishing a dividing line between age demographics and style points of view.

—John Woody

ØDD Fall 2014

February 11, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

Designer Judson Harmon harnessed space-like sounds and water-textured visuals in order to personify his theme of “Water on the Moon” for his ØDD fall 2014 line.

The show opened up with a model wearing a light-up blue ring which provided a much more dynamic purpose to the show besides being your traditional accessory. The rings doubled as a real-time sensor and upon moving, they would activate sounds and would manipulate the video on the screen. This allowed a few of the models to be composers on the runway! One can only imagine how this technology will be used off the runway.

The color palette ranged from forest-like greens, deep blues, blacks, with an occasional transparent garment. All the colors represented images of space mixed with various colors of the sea, providing a relationship between space and water.

The most frequently used fabric in Harmon’s designs was leather. A design feature that utilized leather a lot during the show was an oversized dickie, which seemed to act as a cape from both the front and the back.

A luminescent, white highlighter blush was used underneath models eyes and brows which seem to give the face a heavily defined look. The luminescent make-up on a neutral face/look, exuded a futuristic feeling.

Images courtesy of nouveauPR

Harmon’s models and pieces were intertwined with themes of androgyny. Many of the pieces on the runway were worn by both male and female, indicating that the boundaries between genders were blurred. Making gender a less important theme or factor in this collection, allowed Harmon to focus more on design and concept. With a collection based around classic silhouettes with a glance toward the future, Harmon also in this outing was able to make a social commentary on the equality of both sexes.

—John Woody

Sheena Trivedi Fall 2014

February 10, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Sheena Trivedi who is inspired by both traditional East Indian cultural elements and the vibrancy of New York City always looks to create collections that combine cutting-edge fabrications with East Indian motifs while still honoring traditional western silhouettes. With Sheena Trivedi making a name for herself for the last couple of seasons with her vibrant women’s wear, Trivedi has decided to take the next step into brand expansion and tackle menswear.

Like most of Sheena’s collections, this fall 2014 collection featured accessories such as bracelets, headpieces, nose chains, body chains, and rings that have roots in East Indian culture. Those who follow Trivedi’s work usually find themselves falling in love with her use of color and the prints in her collections. However, this time around Trivedi relied heavily on the darker color palette of black, silver, grey, brown, magenta, and teal blue.

For the menswear portion of the collection Trivedi focused more on design, which was her way of saying she can do commercial menswear for the masses and still put her flair for intricate details and design into the looks. While Trivedi women’s wear stayed within the realm of what we’ve come to expect from her, there was a standout piece; her quilted leather pant that was belted around the waist which offered a chic but cool twist of the typical leather pant.

Images courtesy of Presley Ann Slack

Zippers, tassels, studs, fringe, feathers, and leather were a few of the textures and trims that made this collection pop. One thing that can be said about this collection was it is an absolutely great start into menswear for Sheena Trivedi and one can only hope that her design aesthetic breaks new ground in the market for men!

—John Woody

General Idea Fall 2014

February 9, 2014 by admin 2 Comments

OK, men in skirts, been done before to somewhat good effect and to disastrous effect. And though this trend—men in skirts or masculine aprons—if you want to call it a trend, showed on the runways of Skingraft, Duckie Brown and Nicholas K, General Idea found a way to incorporate the men skirt aesthetic into their fall 2014 collection better than others, and in a way that some stylish men might want to put in their fall/winter wardrobe.

For fall 2014 General Idea’s creative director Bumsuk Choi looked to a much edgier point of view for his collection. In previous outings, Choi has been inspired by wilderness outerwear, the military, and Tibetan pilgrimages. This season, the urban warrior was front and foremost in the creative mind of Choi and how that urban man deals with the vicissitudes of city dwelling.

Like his customer, Choi pulls from lots of different sources. From urban warrior to downtown fashionisto to futuristic style maven to modern punk chic, Choi is always in step and sometimes ahead of what the urban dweller wants to wear. All of these points of view are expressed in a mélange of extended crouches, quilted crop pants, leather skirt aprons, neoprene hooded jackets and color blocked bombers.

Choi, accurately, has plugged into the concept that modern man’s masculinity will not be defined by his choice of silhouette or garb, but by his attitude, his swagger and overall his confidence. That said; the modern man/General Idea customer can rock a knit sweater dress, a leather apron/skirt or a cardigan dress.

Images courtesy of Presley Anne Slack

Standouts in this collection are Choi’s outerwear—an item the brand has become known for—particularly, Choi’s black neoprene hooded coat, black shearling hooded coat, and charcoal color blocked bomber jacket. Still, there were some great men’s skirts, ranging from the black shearling skirt to the black leather riding skirt.

—William S. Gooch

Duckie Brown Fall 2014

February 9, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

For fall 2014 Daniel Silver and Steven Cox debuted the first look into how they would define the Duckie Brown woman. With Duckie Brown having already established a cult-like following in New York City with their provocative menswear, all eyes were on what they would bring to the table with women’s wear.

Silver and Cox humorously named their fall 2014 collection “The Duckie Has Two Faces,” a play on the Barbra Streisand film “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” giving a nod to the idea of both men and women being on their runway for this fashion outing. Though primarily a menswear brand, there were women’s looks that mirrored the brand’s polar opposite approach to fashion; the avant-garde juxtaposed against well-tailored classicism.

For the men’s collection Silver and Cox used elaborate tweeds and silks for hoodies and trackies, putting a touch of luxe on men’s activewear. These active wear–inspired looks were layered with classically masculine pieces such as pea coats or bombers over narrow silk pants. The MA-1 styled bomber jackets this season was one of the highlight of the menswear portion of the collection, showcasing bold color and Duckie Brown’s love for construction. These signature bombers are definitely a staple piece for the Duckie Brown fan.

While Duckie Brown is known for gender bending curve balls, the design duo minimized the androgyny this season, with the exception of a few skirt over silk pant looks. For the most part the menswear collection was fun, masculine, and wearable without losing its edgy quirk.

Images courtesy of style.com

For the women’s wear looks, Duckie Brown played with their signature mixing of short and long pieces, elongated tee shirts or sweatshirts matched with silk-pleated pants, with the tweed overcoats being the highlight. The women’s wear was all about using the right amount of color or print properly.

Overall, the fall 2014 collection was a step in the right direction. And with Silver and Cox always keeping the industry guessing, fashion insiders and consumers always anticipate what is next for Duckie Brown!!