Scott said:
I'd have to disagree,that it's more in the styling. In fact,compared to Slimane,Alexandre is the better créateur. Slimane,is more about the image he's trying to capture that particular season whilst with Cloak you get a real sense for the pieces and the quality.
Or at least, quality of design, considering their production issues in the past.
Just passed by the store - it's gorgeous. It's not fair to rag on a drawing as the proof is in the final production (should we condemn a designer sketch without seeing the final piece of clothing that it represents?). The store has the ambiance of a menswear store that really feels more like a goth version of, say, a Paul Smith store: haberdashery with a modern, dark edge, mixed with the familiar menswear tropes to give a sense of classicism and familiarity. easily my favorite new store design of late.
The clothing, I'm glad to say (for my wallet's sake), isn't to my liking this season. Nothing fit right. Alexandre has gone for a larger, roomier fit, and a 30" waist on me slipped right off to my knees (and I was wearing jeans with a 30" waistline). The smalls were too roomy, and while I was told he created Xtra smalls in certain sizes, they weren't in any of the styles I was interested in. Although I DID like the longsleeved shirts with the self-covered buttons, Those were nice, and worth looking into later...
haoshcn, I agree with you to some degree, as I also preferred Fall 2004 to almost any of Cloak's collections. I think it was the height of Cloak's ouvre thus far. My suspicion is that the synergy between Alexandre and his ex partner, Robert Geller, was what made the collection look the way it did, and considering how Alexandre seems to want to distance himself fropm those collections (they were struck from the Cloak website, for example - collections, press, and all) I assume they typified things he wasn't necessarily tino.
Granted, there as a more downtown/Dior feel to the styling then that was less unique but very au courant, but it worked. The nice thing was that they were put together in very interesting ways, and then when you examined the clothing even further, you found (as you still will, as Alexandre excells in this) interesting cuts and details, from the shape and length of a sleeve to the seams on a shoulder, to the hardware on the toggles and drawstrings. Alexandre's cuts are always creative and complex. But now, I think the colection is more about pieces, and the looks don't gel for me. I can't really get into them - time was that I wanted a look straight off the runway, wanted to look just like their presentation, but I haven't felt that way in the past two seasons. I'm still hopeful, as there are too few American designers I like, but we shall have to wait and see.
)
), Cloak completes its big "reveal" with the launch of a store to call its very own, envisioned here by designer Alexandre Plokhov. Upon entering the tiny SoHo shop, it's clear the once-shadowy Meatpacking-based men's line we first put to pixels five years ago has left the dark-knight, Dior Homme-compared ethos of its early years for a more romantic new image. The space evokes an English gentlemen's club with a massive antique wooden table as a centerpiece, but that's not the only throwback to old London. In addition to ready-to-wear, accessories and shoes, the store features an exclusive bespoke suiting service offering Savile Row fabrics and techniques. It seems the Cloak show has moved to primetime. Cloak, 10 Greene Street, 212-625-2828
...*yawn*
