If you are familiar with Siki Im’s men’s collections, you are familiar with Siki Im’s affection for a 90s counter-culture punk design aesthetic with hints of a dystopian disorder. Previous collections include updated 90s punk looks seen through the lens of a North African design aesthetic, as well as 90s grunge married with a dystopian zombie culture. All these points of view worked for Siki Im’s niche consumer. That said; his current collection will successfully expand Im’s consumer base beyond his niche.
For spring 2020 Siki Im paired his signature design aesthetic of 90s punk/grunge with a robot perspective. Im combined this Siki Im Robot X spring 2020 collection with the brand’s Siki Im CROSS, the brand’s performance line. This melding of the two lines facilitated a more consumer-friendly collection that would have a wider appeal.
Similar to previous collections, there was lots of layering in this collection—a must for any Siki Im collection. The real revelation of this outing was Siki Im’s fabric choice. This season light wools are paired with organic linens and soft silks against voluminous silhouettes with technical details. Bungee cord details allow our wearer to play with proportions and easily mix style with the brand’s performance line.
There were also nods in this collection to East meets West, evidenced in Siki Im’s kimono-styled jackets and shirts in silk charmeuse or worsted wool with Gundam prints. And though Siki Im played around with lots of volume which was displayed in extended crouch pants, oversized sweatshirts, and layered shorts, Im expertly paired the volume of these looks with other garments that gave length and dimension.
Images courtesy of Siki Im
With this spring 2020 collection, Siki Im not only expands his consumer base but also injected some vim and vision into an otherwise milquetoast men’s fall 2020 season. Bravo!!
—William S. Gooch
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was one of the most revolutionary and creative eras of black history. Harlem, New York became the pinnacle of black intellectual, artistic and social movements, forever changing black culture and putting the merits of black artists on display. Needless to say, even modern-day black contributions to creative industries owe themselves to the work of those who made the Harlem Renaissance happen from Langston Hughes to Countee Cullen to Zora Neale Hurston.
In April when it was announced that the designer would be doing a show based on AI, everyone assumed that he meant Artificial Intelligence. As the runway show began, it was clear that this was not an homage to the future of fashion and technology, but, rather, an ode to black arts and culture past, present, and future. In this case, AI stood for “Authentic Identity.”
Diversity and inclusion have become keywords for many of the collections this season. The Fall 2019 season will exceed other seasons with respect to inclusion of models that represent ranges in size, racial and ethnic diversity, and gender fluidity.
As Hunte has proven in previous collections, outerwear is his collections’ strongest point. There was a significant amount or reworked denim jackets and coats, as well as shearling, leather and some nicely worked trench coats. Some of these jackets will do very well in the retail market. Unfortunately, in this collection an androgynous design aesthetic is not Hunte’s forte.
Glam Rock is back!! If you are old enough to remember the New York Dolls, Ziggy Stardust (early 70s David Bowie), the Glitter Band, Gary Glitter, or early Elton John, you know there was time where rockers had long hair, were lots of glittery stage makeup and wore shiny, sparkly tight clothes while they sometimes sang in a falsetto or screamed loudly about love, sex, and rock n’ roll.
Not a stranger to New York Fashion Week, this was Hakan Akkaya’s third outing at NYFW: The Shows (NYFS). And in this fall 2019 outing, Akkaya demonstrated that he has the ability to take a retro trend and elevate it a modern distillation of style with a fashion-forward sensibility.
There was lots of silver metallic and shiny black in this collection with touches of pink and other pastel colors through in to balance out the looks. There was also a range of black and white and bold-striped faux fur coats in the collection.
Like so many brands, Grungy Gentleman is tapping into collaborations. Grungy Gentleman’s creative director Jace Lipstein realizes that with multiple collaborations he is accomplishing a lot of task and expanding is customer base in one blow.
Grungy Gentleman has established itself as a men’s sportswear brand with deep roots with professional sports team. That said; this affiliation with sports teams continues with sports figures mixed into the runway show along with male models. “[Sports figures] Dave East and Styles P embody everything the Grungy brand wanted this show to be about– an ode to New York City– the grit, the grind, the inimitable style and presence of those who came up here, and the power of collaboration across different generations and categories,” said Ali Moon, talent booker for the show.
Almost more than any other menswear designer, Robert Geller finds inspiration and nuance from some of the most unusual sources and references. For his fall 2018 collection, Geller drew from memories of his life in Hamburg, Germany and the joy of hanging out with his friends. He married that youthful reminiscence with Olympic outfits of the 1980s, and Germany army sportswear apparel.This outing was in direct opposition to Geller’s fall 2017, the year of his 10th anniversary. For that collection, Geller shrouded his models in dark symbols of protest and rebellion, as though dystopia had already arrived.
That said; Robert Geller did not stop with conjuring up images of mountain hiking apparel. Geller ingeniously combined layered mountain hiking clothes with the dyeing of different textiles techniques that are incorporated into one garment. Working with his Japanese team, they found a way to properly dye nylon, wool, and cotton with all those textiles combined in one garment.
LANDLORD’s Creative Director Ryohei Kawanishi in his seventh menswear collection went back to school for inspiration for his fall 2019 collection. Initially inspired by the Ivy League—the Darmouth, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard version of higher education—Kawanishi decided to expand his original perspective to include education from kindergarten to graduate school.
Not so, Kawanishi’s in this fall 2019 lecture conjures up images of an anti-intellectual student; a student that is somberly playful and may be a product of the laid-back stoner and slacker culture. And that stoner slacker culture has a definite, if not significant, place among young consumers.
