It’s perhaps natural that New York Fashion Week: Men’s is quieter than the hyped-up circus of womenswear, beginning next week. Men, even if they care about how they look, and are spending more than ever to look as good as possible, only care so much. And so menswear, innovative and adventurous as so many of its designers are, will always be more conservative than the wilder shores of womenswear. Quite rightly did the brilliant Guy Trebay of The New York Times say that Men’s Fashion Week needed some livening up. But still, four days of man-peacockery did throw up some choice suits and casualwear, with boundaries of traditional shapes and color gently and colorfully pushed.
A mannequin wears designer John Varvatos’s Men’s Fall/Winter 2016 fashion during a presentation in Varvatos’s downtown store. A tomato-red and black jacket with black trousers—and who can resist a mannequin with claws?
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In a very welcome reversal of the depressing, black-invisible Oscars nominations this year, David Hart used solely black models in his presentation—and they wore fab sharp suits, fitted jackets (some with a whiff of the Beats), and three-quarter-length trousers. And if we could magically wake up with these guys’ fantastic legs we’d be happy men indeed.
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From Public School, a great collision of trad-smart and street: tunics worn under shirts; denim jackets, sporty tops, fitted, skinny trousers, and wide-brimmed hats.
Bebeto Matthews/AP
Ricardo Seco skillfully showed that men too can wear luxe and color: Here, the formal shape of a black jacket is given enlivening pops of something orange-colored and furry-looking, with greens and grays too giving some energy to the dour coat.
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Michael Kors’s urban cowboy is a butch, go-ahead kind of fella: fitted sports sweater, slim trousers, boots, and rucksack. (Protein drinks inside, we’d wager.)
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CWST bravely tried to liberate men from their familiars, without too shockingly rocking their worlds. A long, gray cardigan coat was paired with a floaty shirt, slim black trousers, boots, and a rakish splash of bling.
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A great jacket from Krammer Stoudt: this time, leather and buttoned at the top allowing a dramatic fall away over the midsection (which, I guess, must be as flat as possible to stop you looking like a flapping tent). Lovely striped top beneath, and those gray, loose trousers remind me—in the best way—of a very similar pair I wore...well, a few years back. *cough*
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Tim Coppens is a master of layering, with an unconventionally shaped top coat over a deliciously patterned blazer, with other items popping some painterly splodges of color.
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OK, guys, time to go the gym, if we’re ever going to fit into and make the most of this gorgeous diaphonous top. Note the luxe and loosey-goosey trousers too: Not all trousers must be slim-fit.
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The hint of old colonial formalwear given a luxurious-looking update here, and (even better) worn by a black model. Beautifully tailored to be both fitted, but also contoured with give, this cream suit has its own majestic overcoat and—so many hats this year—a fedora too.
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The models stood on little podiums at this show: Yes, there’s lots of smart and sexy black, but look too at those canny hits of color—the short yellow jacket, the luxe-looking red longer one, the caramel retro leather.
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Withnail and I lives on: a great long coat, with bagginess reigning beneath.
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