Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily NY July 24@ 2003
There's No Business Like 'Show' Business
By Jeannette Park
Though it's hard to pinpoint exactly where credit ought to be given for the growing trend in trucker chic -- be it Kid Rock, Ashton Kutcher or your cousin Billy Bob from Alabama -- all we know is that it's hard to find any 20 to 30-year-old hipster without a colorful mesh hat on top of his head. And at this week's Project Show trade event, the story was no different -- after all, the 61 vendors who gathered in the Puck Building for the exhibition's freshman effort had the aforementioned group firmly in mind.
"There's a different generation of people in the industry...people in this category are younger, they live on the streets and they are looking for something with more energy," Project Show creator Sam Ben-Avraham told FWD.
The look of the men in this category may have a little more youthful energy, but the prices are still upscale -- a phenomenon that could ultimately benefit a flailing menswear industry. With the success of such collaborative brands as Adidas's Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto and a growing demand for high-end denim, the mixture of street looks injected with boardroom tailoring seems to be just where this group is headed.
Using words like "innovation" and "reinvention" to describe their line, Amsterdam-based G Star Raw Denim concentrates on using the sturdiest and sleekest material to keep their denim looks fresh. Dark washed jeans and heavy khaki bomber jackets made up most of their fall collection, and the Eureka boot pant's wide legs and multi-pockets could go from the streets of Park Slope to the ski slope with only the addition of a little snow.
Twin brothers Chip and Pepper Foster, who started the Golf Punk boutique on Melrose in LA, introduced at Project Show their eponymous line of denim made from authentic vintage denim and tediously hand-crafted washes. Inspired by a pair of jeans the brothers dug up from the early 1990s, the names in the Chip & Pepper collection may be a little quirky, but there is rhyme and reason to their choices. According to Pepper, the "Walk of Shame" jean is for when you're "walking home at 3 in the morning, and you look like sh*t, but your *** still looks good." Expect to see the boys' name on the bum of Sarah Jessica Parker's jeans on an upcoming episode of "Sex and the City."
Some of the booths were humdrum in category and nature. Sixty Men's line was a masculine take on the brand's more popular Miss Sixty line for girls, with distressed denim jeans and gasoline-splattered graphic T's, and Camper showcased the same leather bowling shoe-like numbers they have built their name on. But Valentino's new youth-focused R.E.D. booth was a popular stop for retailers from Barney's, Fred Segal, Holt Renfrew and Saks that stopped by for a peek.
Another twin brother team, Ron-n-Ron, defied most of the denim- and T-shirt- heavy exhibition and showed tailored suiting in fine woolens, top-notch shirting and neckwear. But not to be left in the modern dust, the Haitian-born pair used vibrant colors and injected a little edginess to the traditional looks by using three-button collars, trademark re-stitched button holes and wide, wide lapels.
A late entry into Project Show, brand new label Mashin (devil in Japanese), was one of the few booths showcasing accessories. Described by designer Sean D'Anconia as "Hello Kitty on acid" because of the stylized Japanese Animé characters he created, D'Anconia told FWD that his inspiration for the line was: "Taking 1950s retro America, injecting a Dolce Vita lifestyle concept and fusing Japanese pop culture to make it reflective of where American culture is going today."
Although it might be a mouthful to say, Mashin's accessories translate into kitschy yet hip mini Zippo lighters in fire engine red and school bus yellow with cartoon images of Godzilla, an Asian James Bond or a butt-kicking karate figure. The decorative pillows feature replicas of vintage liquor ads, but have a cartoon face of an angry kitty instead.
The atmosphere at Project Show matched the mood of all the exhibitors. DJs mixed the latest rap hits with classic beats from a Karim Rashid-designed turntable, and furniture from Herman Miller littered the multiple lounges set up on two floors of the Puck Building. And despite the downpour that prevented some editors from going back to work, there were plenty of cosmopolitans, Sky Vanilla and Coke cocktails, and vodka-spiked snow cones to keep them happy inside.
So what were Ben-Avraham's thoughts on the success of hosting his first trade event? "It was amazing and a lot better than what we thought it would be because although we were able to create the look and bring in the vendors we wanted, we had no control of the vibe coming in. We ended up getting every single best buyer in the country at Project Show," he said with an almost sigh of relief.
Look for Project Show's second menswear trade event January 26 to 28 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, with dates in LA to be confirmed later this month.
Very much thanks Astrid !
