Alexander Wang is considering a major meet-and-greet in Asia this spring, including a stop in Beijing where he’s opening a store mid-March. But there’s one caveat—he’d like to be back in time for Coachella, the three-day free-for-all music festival in the California desert that starts April 13.
Why share one person’s schedule when we all can barely maintain our own? It’s simply a good reminder that Wang works hard and he plays hard. The latter is well-documented; the former was evidenced again this morning when the designer presented pre-fall 2012, one-and-a-half times the size of his collection this time last year. He’s fleshed out his casual clothing line, T by Alexander Wang, from knits to a full wardrobe, expanded a core selection of classic styles, and dreamed up accessories by the dozen including nude mesh stiletto booties and a clutch resembling an oversize sunglasses case. All this, and the designer still turned out a stellar main collection, a study in trompe l’oeil and innovative treatments of men’s fabrics for womenswear.
Athletic windbreaker-anorak-sportscoat hybrids, becoming something of a Wang signature, were rendered in houndstooth-printed nylon, and shirts—of which there were many, all great—were a mix of men’s fabrics (a chambray-looking tunic with a tux-like placket, button-downs with cutouts of various colors) that had tulle-covered sealed pockets and non-functioning buttons. A double-breasted jacket in croc-stamped leather gave the illusion of extravagance without the exorbitant price tag.
But it was the sweaters and sweaterdresses in devoré houndstooth-print merino and nylon that were a solid representation of the collection as a whole: out-of-the-box enough to excite without the outrageousness that Wang plays with on the runway. They’re not the kind of bohemian clothes one would see at Coachella but they, without a doubt, get the job done.
