2017 Menswear Fashion Phillip Koch
Spring: Ralph Lauren Purple Line Ralph Lauren is a reed that bends in the wind but he is forever Ralph Lauren. Yet
today the
2017 archetype of Purple Label masculinity was serenely assured. Notable for its lack of Wall Street clothing, this collection contains linen suits, accented sweatshirts and even an RL flight suit. Inspired by NYC architecture with an eddy uptown, some art deco jacquards and hinted with a military background.
Spring: Brunello Cucinelli The label doesn’t stray from its signature look, yet every season a few elements are slightly adjusted to add freshness and a modern spin to its vocabulary. This was apparent in today’s lineup making a point of its ageless, flexible, versatile quality. In Cucinelli’s world, wearing a well-cut, relaxed jacket on every possible occasion—be it formal or not—is absolutely not negotiable. He pointed out blazers in a zillion different iterations, made of the finest fabrics; they were paired with softly tapered drawstring pants and worn over elegant polo shirts or layered cotton T-shirts.
Spring: Salvatore Ferragamo The Ferragamo guy looked very well equipped for travel; creative yet practical, with a youthful, adventurous spirit firmly rooted in tradition, he looked elegantly agile in sahara silk jackets. Suits were soft and comfortable, with a fresh take on tailoring and with functional, almost workwear-inspired proportions. A touch of the decorative was found on blousons encrusted with abstract motifs, which this time were intended as an homage to the French artist Jean Arp; they were also translated in colorful pins on lapels and on printed foulards, loosely worn with nonchalant attitude.
Spring: Kiton Kiton absolutely represents quality. A series of cotton or silk jersey jackets—very probably lighter than a feather—trickled off their hangers like syrup off a spoon. The suits are often in punchy tones which represent both the core color–drenched Neapolitan aesthetic consistent with Kiton’s geography and the peacock tendencies of the young men aspiring to outfit themselves in the same label they want to have a huge—and hugely expensive collection of—when they are old men. In fashion terms, some of these lookbook images doubtless look a bit garish. But don’t be fooled: Kiton is quality, through and through.
Spring: Canali The show opened and closed with jackets of a fil-on-fil fabric—malfilei, Canali called it—in which you could see the competing and pleasingly organic jumble of warp versus weft. There was a mighty series of softly colored suits that gently stretched the house Kei jacket by inserting secondary pocket-square pockets at the hip. But there was plenty of more diverse luxury attire too: bombers with bodies of perforated leather and knit arms, long light trenches, leather M65s, and double-hemmed Bermuda shorts. Today there is demand for a counterbalance of that which isn’t tailored at all. It’s a brave new world, and Canali is adapting.
Fall: Ermenegildo Zegna Alessandro Sartori is a geek, whose life since childhood has been invested in fabric and finish. So here we saw paper-thin, vegetable-waxed calf leathers in softly cinched trenches, shaved wool-alpaca on deep purple and aubergine jackets, bobbled cashmere base blanket-like fabric on bombers and track-pants, quilted down-filled wool used on attenuated suiting, and rich jacquards on pants and on the bodies of quilted leather armed coats. All that geekiness though, was not in isolation or for the sake of itself. It was to build a collection. For neither the old nor the young, and about togetherness rather than separation, this was an unusual luxury-industry expression of inclusivity over exclusivity.
Fall: Calvin Klein Citing his own icons (James Dean and Barack Obama) backstage, Petier Mulier said, “The first time I visited America I was 22, and it’s always been my dream to come here.” He and Raf Simons have picked a complicated, contentious moment to put down roots. They’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and with all sincerity they’re embracing it. That’s a smart way to start the brand’s new era—it gives them a lot of room to move around. This wasn’t a home run, but it gave some of us a well-timed jolt of hope and optimism.
Fall: Hermes When Véronique Nichanian decided to spin Hermès in a musical direction, she wisely turned the volume way down. “Rock-mantic” is how she described her show, not backstage exactly, but kind of on the edge of the runway itself, so deep was the throng of well-wishers who’d come to offer their congratulations almost as soon as the last look disappeared. Nichanian expanded on her theme: “There are so many different ways to express the notion of masculinity; with this collection, I worked on the proportions—wider pants, bigger shoulders, narrower pants—without being too exaggerated.”
Fall: Hugo Boss Hugo Boss is a big, hundreds of millions’ big, company. So it was all the more interesting here how assertively Boss flirted with heaviness and roughness. Each look was fitted to its model and garlanded with a label bearing the label’s signature. This was a collection that tried to say the Boss man does not roll off the production line identically outfitted. He has texture and depth, plus a sense of the then that makes his sense of the now make sense.
Fall: Louis Vuitton & Supreme The distinguishing mark of a great designer is to transform complexity into something that just looks simply and inevitably right. Never mind the Louis Vuitton and Supreme—this collection, with its totally believable ease and fluidity, had that talent stamped all over it. Menswear always changes by tiny increments, but here it was possible to sit back and think: “Oh, a new silhouette has finally arrived.” It’s looser; it has wider-legged, drop-crotched trousers; it has long sweaters, floppy shirts, and roomy soft coats. It’s both convincingly young but accessibly wearable for many ages and physiques.
Works Cited ❏ ❏
Vogue Runway: http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows WGSN: https://www.wgsn.com/fashion/