http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/fashion/24CODES.html
For Fall, 5 Designers Nail It
By DAVID COLMAN
Published: August 24, 2006
TRAVIS BICKLE, Oliver Barrett IV and Joe Strummer walk into a bar.
If you are waiting for a punch line, don’t dawdle too long, or the joke may be on you. These fellows, believe it or not, are actually among the most attractive and easy-to-inhabit characters that designers conjured up for fall, and you don’t want to be caught with last fall’s pants on.
Of course, the fall fashion offerings do not stop with these three, the memorable protagonists of “Taxi Driver,” “Love Story” and the Clash (who were channeled, respectively, by Junya Watanabe, Michael Bastian and Alexandre Plokhov of Cloak). The Ralph Lauren and Jil Sander houses also delivered eminently wearable collections, even if they are not so readily traceable to a cinematic fashion moment. Armed with this short list of five designers (leaving space for his own favorites), a man could find clothes that are very fashionable (or just fashionable enough) and also plug into the greater trends rolling through fashion.
Moreover, there is someone for everyone: the well-bred aloofness of Mr. Bastian; the dapper post-punk stylings of Mr. Plokhov; the smooth, art-world-ready minimalism of Jil Sander, refreshed by Raf Simons.
Not that other collections did not wow the crowds. Prada’s clever mix of scooter-driving Mod and homebound aesthete seemed to imagine what it would look like had Proust lived in the 1960’s London; Dolce & Gabbana’s 19th-century military fantasia dreamt of a time when war was romantic. But given the prices that men’s wear now commands, a man has to be hardheaded, avoiding clothes that will look dated by November and others that, too safe, make little impression now.
When Jil Sander introduced her men’s collection a decade ago, she figured out a novel way to let men look fashionable without being, as they say, “victim-y.” With Raf Simons’s first collection for the line, he took his own renegade ideas about cut, proportion and where zippers should go and tamed and tailored them to the Uptown customer and ideal Ms. Sander envisioned.
The collection combines Ms. Sander’s sober palette (black, navy, gray and white) with a mix of textured fabrics (thick cashmere and plain wool twill, high-tech polypropylene and scratchy-woolly Shetland knits). There are stark white shirts with hidden plackets, closure-free cashmere cardigans and crisp pants and suits. The clothes make clear that minimalism is not a momentary fixation, but an alive-and-kicking-it style, one that appeals to men who are not served by either the superskinny clothes so in vogue or the vast conservative sea of men’s wear.
Not that conservative has to be boring (or even conservative), as Ralph Lauren proved in his fall runway show. Instead of showing his many lines — Polo, Black Label, Purple Label, RRL — separately, as he usually does in his World of Ralph presentations, Mr. Lauren mixed them all together: patchwork-tweed sports coats, Western jeans, bankerly suits. It was a refreshing collection, not about how modern man should dress but about how he does dress.
“The whole collection was based around tailored clothing, which is how guys are dressing today,” said Michael Macko, the men’s fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue. And this was not merely a high-low mix, which guys have embraced for years, but a deliberate combination of aesthetics and levels of polish. The result is a ragtag appeal that suits a jaded 20-year-old as well as a jaunty man 40 years his senior.
Men who like all-American classics but prefer them executed with a continental, even quirky, cut are buzzing about Michael Bastian’s new line. Mr. Bastian, the former men’s wear buyer for Bergdorf Goodman, has developed what he calls underdesigned luxury basics for the man who is, say, caught in the elevator between the second (i.e., conservative) and third (designer) floors of his former employer.
“There’s real void in this kind of thing," Mr. Bastian said. “I want my clothes to be anonymous.”
Hmm. His trim designs are not terribly anonymous, certainly not that sweater that says I {sheart} MB backward. But with distinctive touches like the button-free deep V-neck on his cashmere rugby sweater or the laced-up cinch on his khakis, they have a playful appeal to the guy who wants a little something extra (but not too much, please!) for his fashion dollar. Very “Love Story ’06.”
Classic does not have to mean prep, nor does retro have to mean Mod. In a collection that combines tailoring talent and a somber palette (black, gray, dark green) with a seemingly effortless handle on cool, Mr. Plokhov of Cloak took the slim-fitting, early-80’s styles of Brit bands like the Clash and hit them with a jolt of tweed. What emerged is a cross between Manchester, England and Manchester, New England.
While Mr. Plokhov’s clothes have sometimes leaned to the gimmicky, his fall collection is just what downtown guys want to wear to look cool: dark plaid shirt jackets, trim (and uniquely styled) leather jackets, nubby wool suits cut to a rocker’s lanky frame — and nothing more.
“I am learning from being a shopkeeper how to design for more kinds of bodies,” he said, referring to the SoHo store he opened last year. “There was an effort to clean things up, not to make it so tricky, make it more palatable, more friendly.”
Meanwhile, Junya Watanabe decided that less friendly was the way to go, as he demonstrated in his homage to Travis Bickle, the deranged Vietnam veteran played by Robert De Niro. It was one of fall’s most talked-about collections. But unlike many sensational runway shows, which result in clothes being photographed for 50 magazines, then languishing in stores, Mr. Watanabe’s well-cut array of Army-green jackets and pants fit seamlessly into many wardrobes, tying together several current trends: utilitarian fetishism, early-90’s punk revivalism, 70’s bohemian redux. That is, when you subtract the mohawk.
The look meshes also well with the “workwear” trend (inaugurated, by the way, in 2003 when Matthew Barney wore a janitor-gray, Dickies-style shirt and pants to his opening at the Guggenheim). Sure, the clothes are expensive, but as Travis says to the gun shop owner: “That’s all right. I got money.”
MINIMALISM REDUX Cool and sharp yet warm and fuzzy, Raf Simons’s clothes for Jil Sander rethink simple with a tactile mix of textures.
SOLDIER OF FASHION Junya Watanabe’s funny yet thoughtful take on Army surplus is surprisingly functional.
PREP CAT Michael Bastian reinvents upper-crust classic with just enough personality to show you have one.
NEW WAVE REVIVALISM Cloak interprets understated indie-rock ’tude in suave threads.
ONE FROM EACH COLUMN The many moods (and archetypes, labels and prices) of Ralph Lauren spring into new (and useful) life mixed together
Mark Veltman for The New York Times
For Fall, 5 Designers Nail It
By DAVID COLMAN
Published: August 24, 2006
TRAVIS BICKLE, Oliver Barrett IV and Joe Strummer walk into a bar.
If you are waiting for a punch line, don’t dawdle too long, or the joke may be on you. These fellows, believe it or not, are actually among the most attractive and easy-to-inhabit characters that designers conjured up for fall, and you don’t want to be caught with last fall’s pants on.
Of course, the fall fashion offerings do not stop with these three, the memorable protagonists of “Taxi Driver,” “Love Story” and the Clash (who were channeled, respectively, by Junya Watanabe, Michael Bastian and Alexandre Plokhov of Cloak). The Ralph Lauren and Jil Sander houses also delivered eminently wearable collections, even if they are not so readily traceable to a cinematic fashion moment. Armed with this short list of five designers (leaving space for his own favorites), a man could find clothes that are very fashionable (or just fashionable enough) and also plug into the greater trends rolling through fashion.
Moreover, there is someone for everyone: the well-bred aloofness of Mr. Bastian; the dapper post-punk stylings of Mr. Plokhov; the smooth, art-world-ready minimalism of Jil Sander, refreshed by Raf Simons.
Not that other collections did not wow the crowds. Prada’s clever mix of scooter-driving Mod and homebound aesthete seemed to imagine what it would look like had Proust lived in the 1960’s London; Dolce & Gabbana’s 19th-century military fantasia dreamt of a time when war was romantic. But given the prices that men’s wear now commands, a man has to be hardheaded, avoiding clothes that will look dated by November and others that, too safe, make little impression now.
When Jil Sander introduced her men’s collection a decade ago, she figured out a novel way to let men look fashionable without being, as they say, “victim-y.” With Raf Simons’s first collection for the line, he took his own renegade ideas about cut, proportion and where zippers should go and tamed and tailored them to the Uptown customer and ideal Ms. Sander envisioned.
The collection combines Ms. Sander’s sober palette (black, navy, gray and white) with a mix of textured fabrics (thick cashmere and plain wool twill, high-tech polypropylene and scratchy-woolly Shetland knits). There are stark white shirts with hidden plackets, closure-free cashmere cardigans and crisp pants and suits. The clothes make clear that minimalism is not a momentary fixation, but an alive-and-kicking-it style, one that appeals to men who are not served by either the superskinny clothes so in vogue or the vast conservative sea of men’s wear.
Not that conservative has to be boring (or even conservative), as Ralph Lauren proved in his fall runway show. Instead of showing his many lines — Polo, Black Label, Purple Label, RRL — separately, as he usually does in his World of Ralph presentations, Mr. Lauren mixed them all together: patchwork-tweed sports coats, Western jeans, bankerly suits. It was a refreshing collection, not about how modern man should dress but about how he does dress.
“The whole collection was based around tailored clothing, which is how guys are dressing today,” said Michael Macko, the men’s fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue. And this was not merely a high-low mix, which guys have embraced for years, but a deliberate combination of aesthetics and levels of polish. The result is a ragtag appeal that suits a jaded 20-year-old as well as a jaunty man 40 years his senior.
Men who like all-American classics but prefer them executed with a continental, even quirky, cut are buzzing about Michael Bastian’s new line. Mr. Bastian, the former men’s wear buyer for Bergdorf Goodman, has developed what he calls underdesigned luxury basics for the man who is, say, caught in the elevator between the second (i.e., conservative) and third (designer) floors of his former employer.
“There’s real void in this kind of thing," Mr. Bastian said. “I want my clothes to be anonymous.”
Hmm. His trim designs are not terribly anonymous, certainly not that sweater that says I {sheart} MB backward. But with distinctive touches like the button-free deep V-neck on his cashmere rugby sweater or the laced-up cinch on his khakis, they have a playful appeal to the guy who wants a little something extra (but not too much, please!) for his fashion dollar. Very “Love Story ’06.”
Classic does not have to mean prep, nor does retro have to mean Mod. In a collection that combines tailoring talent and a somber palette (black, gray, dark green) with a seemingly effortless handle on cool, Mr. Plokhov of Cloak took the slim-fitting, early-80’s styles of Brit bands like the Clash and hit them with a jolt of tweed. What emerged is a cross between Manchester, England and Manchester, New England.
While Mr. Plokhov’s clothes have sometimes leaned to the gimmicky, his fall collection is just what downtown guys want to wear to look cool: dark plaid shirt jackets, trim (and uniquely styled) leather jackets, nubby wool suits cut to a rocker’s lanky frame — and nothing more.
“I am learning from being a shopkeeper how to design for more kinds of bodies,” he said, referring to the SoHo store he opened last year. “There was an effort to clean things up, not to make it so tricky, make it more palatable, more friendly.”
Meanwhile, Junya Watanabe decided that less friendly was the way to go, as he demonstrated in his homage to Travis Bickle, the deranged Vietnam veteran played by Robert De Niro. It was one of fall’s most talked-about collections. But unlike many sensational runway shows, which result in clothes being photographed for 50 magazines, then languishing in stores, Mr. Watanabe’s well-cut array of Army-green jackets and pants fit seamlessly into many wardrobes, tying together several current trends: utilitarian fetishism, early-90’s punk revivalism, 70’s bohemian redux. That is, when you subtract the mohawk.
The look meshes also well with the “workwear” trend (inaugurated, by the way, in 2003 when Matthew Barney wore a janitor-gray, Dickies-style shirt and pants to his opening at the Guggenheim). Sure, the clothes are expensive, but as Travis says to the gun shop owner: “That’s all right. I got money.”
MINIMALISM REDUX Cool and sharp yet warm and fuzzy, Raf Simons’s clothes for Jil Sander rethink simple with a tactile mix of textures.
SOLDIER OF FASHION Junya Watanabe’s funny yet thoughtful take on Army surplus is surprisingly functional.
PREP CAT Michael Bastian reinvents upper-crust classic with just enough personality to show you have one.
NEW WAVE REVIVALISM Cloak interprets understated indie-rock ’tude in suave threads.
ONE FROM EACH COLUMN The many moods (and archetypes, labels and prices) of Ralph Lauren spring into new (and useful) life mixed together
Mark Veltman for The New York Times
