[Fashion Review] The Best From Day One Of New York Fashion Week Mens

February 2, 2016

Text by Adam Lehrer

So, New York Fashion Week: Men’s has begun for the FW 2016 season. The story with New York will always be that the designers that show in New York are far too market-driven in comparison with the brands that come out of London and Paris. It does often seem that brands here are far too worried about ending up on the racks of Nordstrom to really make anything close to being considered art, but then again you’d also not really be looking hard enough. The menswear scene in New York is huge: we love clothes here! Dudes here are as focused on style and willing to take risks on new styles perhaps more than any city in the world. From Supreme to high fashion to the best vintage stores in the world, guys in New York use all manner of garments to express that thing that they are trying to express.

The designer schedule for FW 2016, while slim in comparison with those in Milan, London, and Paris, is looking fairly strong. Italo Zuchelli, perhaps the greatest minimalist menswear designer in the world, will host a Calvin Klein presentation here. Few menswear designs on Earth are as conceptually strange, artisinally gifted, and rarified as those by Greg Lauren (whose show we will be attending). Plus, there are a range of new designers defining a new high fashion scene in Los Angeles, including Rochambeau and Second/Layer, that are calling New York their home.

The concepts are there, it’s just you have to sift through a lot of overly commercial monotonous mediocrities to find the good stuff. NYFW:M started today with New York Men’s Day, platform presentations of eight new brands. So much of what makes fashion amazing is seeing the clothes move with human bodies (Craig Green exemplifies this), and it can be difficult to hold a cohesive concept without the splash of a catwalk. But the designers at NYMD did their damndest to try. Some of the clothes were dull. Some were actually quite amazing. Here were some of the best.

Best:

Edmund Ooi FW 2016

In our review of his SS 2016 runway show, we discussed Malaysian designer Ooi’s refreshing emphasis on concept but lamented his inability to render them into wearable clothing. He heard our cries with FW2016; a striking balance between futuristic high fashion and utilitarian workwear. The coats, which ranged from belted trench coats to quilted bomber jackets, came layered with high treated t-shirts, neck jewelry, and awesome blue leather gloves. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the presentation were the spectacular cropped skinny denim; Ooi using denim is sort of like Ralph Lauren using latex. The collection felt very Raf, perhaps too much so. It’s probably on the fault of the viewer to relate anything youthful and confrontational to Raf, but the influence felt very evident here. And I’d still rather wear Raf. But nevertheless, very nice clothes.

Plac FW 2016

While certainly not approaching anything resembling high fashion, New York-based PLAC has found some footing under Korean creative director Sang-Hyun Lee. The knits and scarves were massive and draped over the models, creating an easy evocative look.

David Hart FW 2016

I actually was thinking the other night, why is it that when designers reference music is it always punk (Raf), rave culture (Liam Hodges), or hip-hop (Astrid Anderson). Why not one one of the most stylish of all musical genres, Jazz? While New York designer David Hart, who has worked for Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph, might not be the most conceptually brilliant designer out there, his FW 2016 presentation at NYMD answered my call. His presentation room, set to a soundtrack of A Tribe Called Quest, recreated the atmosphere of Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem, if in a slightly too obvious manner. Nevertheless, the all black cast and understated high luxury made for a groovy atmosphere and some very desirably tailored clothing.

Robert James FW 2016

“As a New York designer, I’m very conscious of not making anything related to Americana or workwear. I want to make real, luxury designer clothing,” said designer Robert James to me at his FW 2016 collection. The aim is admirable. James isn’t overly concerned with concepts, he pretty much always works in the sphere of refernces to rock n’ roll (this time the opulent dressing of 1970s rock bands), but he is an exquisitely skilled tailor and the clothes here were perfectly fitted and befitting of high price tags.

CWST FW 2016

I’ve never been one to think of dope smoking (and growing) tree huggers as the most stylish people around, but Californian brand CWST had me re-thinking that sentiment with their campfire celebrating FW 2016 presentation. For the presentation, the brand created a field of marijuana and had a campfire acoustic guitar player wheeling through the soundtrack. On top of that, the clothes were pretty amazing, turning hippie staples like drugrugs and knitted pants look like the most desirable products on Earth. There is something refreshingly unique about this brand, taking inspiration from their home state and then letting that inspiration ripple through the snooty fashion world. Never change, CWST.

Chapter FW 2016

I actually quite like Chapter and own some of their knits and pants (they actually make some really cool looking trousers), but they do seem to offer a more accessibly price but still well-made versions of the types of designers that sell their clothes at Totokaelo. But their FW 2016 presentation was fantastic, seeming to imagine the bad boy vampires of The Lost Boys at a John Coltrane concert (there was a live jazz band for the soundtrack). The designers of Chapter have a real knack for shape, taking things like minimal bomber jackets and trench coats and then just flaring it at the arm or the seems and making it look really cool. Chapter also offered the brand’s first pairs of denim, which we cropped, slashed, and drop-crotched, giving that girlfriend jean vibe to dudes, which didn’t look bad even if won’t get me to ditch my Levi’s anytime soon. Chapter really is a great brand though, especially if you are a guy who wants to wear things like Margiela and Lanvin but can’t come close to affording it.

See more fashion coverage here.

[Fashion] Paris Fashion Week Men's 2016

January 27, 2016

Text by Adam Lehrer

It feels like every season I find myself almost wanting the Paris round of menswear shows to suck, just to change it up. I can make claims like, “London is ground zero for cutting edge young menswear designers,” or “Italian luxury is forever,” or “New York is on the up and up,” but when it comes down to it, everything still pales in comparison to the lineup of designers that show their new duds in Paris. And until Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Kim Jones, Dries Van Noten, Yohji Yammamoto, Junya Watanabe, and so forth decide to show elsewhere, that appears to be how it will stay.

The FW 2016 Paris menswear shows seemed to emphasize time, nostalgia, and at times a rejection of nostalgia. Raf Simons, free of the punishing time constraints placed upon him as creative director of Dior, unleashed his most furiously cultural referent collection since his work with Sterling Ruby. Yohji Yammamoto looked nowhere but the future for his new Y-3 collection, preparing fashions for the final frontier. Kris Van Assche at Dior Homme elevated two fondly remembered sub-cultures, early New Wave and ‘90s skate culture, to Dior-ian qualities (with mixed results). Fashion is all about looking towards the future or remembering the past in efforts to co-opt those thoughts for the here and now. That sentiment was evident all throughout Paris this past week.

Raf Simons

Raf Simons has always managed to be a designer that sparks interest in people that may not be overwhelmingly interested in fashion, but who adore music and visual art. Joy Division and Factory Records fans delighted in his FW 2003 “Closer” collection that referenced Peter Saville graphics. His FW 2014 collection with Sterling Ruby may have been the most intriguing artist/designer collab of all time. Raf’s FW 2016 collection found Raf delighting in all the various works of art that inspire him now. Free of Dior, he has time to smartly cultivate a network of ideas and tie them together in a manner that feels effortless even if painstaking. The most talked about reference here was David Lynch (it also happened to be David’s birthday). The show was soundtracked to a recording of composer Angelo Badalmenti discussing his work scoring Twin Peaks, and the clothes had that macabre sense of banal Americana, or dare I say “Lynchian” qualities; the oversized letterman sweaters brought to mind the sultry princess of The Great Northern Audrey Horne, and the slashing of them the threat of imminent danger. And though grotesque Americana was the main theme here, with Raf also mentioning the Boy Scouts, The Breakfast Club, and slasher films as primary influences, he also took time to reference two more of his favorite artists. Raf cited Cindy Sherman as an influence on the collection, and the reference makes sense: Sherman’s portraiture of classically “American” figures (whatever that means) always hinted at something sinister beneath the surface. These clothes, while objectively normal or “American” (high school puffer jackets, oxfort shirts) were presented in such a manner to subvert their own expectations. Raf also claimed to be thinking more of aruguably his greatest influence, Martin Margiela, during the designing of this collection. The way the coats were so big to hang off the frames of the models, the smart tattering of sleeves, and the emphasis on the garments as objects all blatantly but brilliantly paid ode to Margiela and his legacy. This was a magnificent collection, perhaps the best Raf has presented since his work with Ruby. It was conceptually brilliant and aesthetically beautiful, and most importantly I want all of this stuff. Even better? Raf finally started diversifying his models, perhaps realizing that his justification of his use of white models is due to the street casting he does in Antwerp, probably won’t work anymore.

Dries Van Noten

Dries van Noten had been trying to secure the location of his FW 2016 show for 15 years. The Palais Garnier, an opulent shrine to French glory, was a fitting testament to the impact of this show. FW ’16 felt like the most quintessentially “Dries” show that Van Noten has shown in quite some time, finding the traditional and statuesque beauty in the imagery of the subversive and radical. The first coat, a black trench with a mock-neck collar and a waist flap, came emblazoned with a coiling snake graphic perfectly placed. While jackets fit rather slim, pants and shorts came oversized, emphasizing Dries’s tendency to go off-trend and come up with silhouettes you didn’t even realize that you wanted right now. All things told, the Dries collection had my favorite coats of the season, and there were so many options. Floral patterns, plaids, and psychedelic graphics designed by Wes Wilson, he of the era of psychedelic record covers and concert posters (Grateful Dead, Cream, etc..). The Belgians are coming out hard this season.

Louis Vuitton

Kim Jones, a man who undoubtedly clocks over 50 hours a week designing menswear for the world’s biggest fashion house, still finds seemingly tons of time to see the world, and his travels often influence his collections. But this time around for FW 2016 Louis Vuitton menswear collection, Jones looked around him at home. What does Paris mean to the world now? How does its heritage affect the world and how is that heritage viewed by those outside it? And most importantly, how do we push Paris and all its inherent ideas into the future? Jones answered swiftly, taking the most iconic of Parisian references, from Jean Cocteau to Art Deco, and employing them into garments imagined for an optimistically bright future. After the attacks in November, the show takes on a defiantly political tone: Paris thrives. The clothes here were utterly sleek, perfectly cut, and shimmering with promise. The belted trench coat at the beginning made its wearer look like an assassin after just completing a highly lucrative and expertly executed kill. A blue velvet double breasted coat was one of the best pieces Jones has ever designed. The clothes here were almost too spectacular to name one by one, so let’s just say that Louis Vuitton is still the historical fashion house making wealthy old men shell out credit and also making young urban guys want to grow up and get their shit together, trade in their Schott Perfectos and 501s for an immaculately coiffed double breasted suit.

Gosha Rubchinskiy

When Rei Kawakubo shows up, you know something is going on. As was the case with Gosha Rubchinskiy’s FW 2016 collection. Though it is smart business for Rei to support her suportees (Gosha’s brand is manufactured by Comme facilities, but is not a “Comme brand” as in Junya or Sacai), you hardly ever see her in-person anymore. But Rei, as with many of the more forward thinking in this industry, sees something in Gosha. When he debuted his first collection, he didn’t have much more to offer other than sweats and hoodies with eye-grabbing prints on them. But there was something in the perspective; here was someone that had to work hard to learn culture, and is working just as hard to show the world his culture. He’s one of the true original voices in the industry. Now to progress his brand, the Gosha FW 2016 collection took on a harder edge, employing more types of fashions as well as more capital “F” fashion. The high-waisted jeans and suspenders brought to mind the sinister underbellies of the hardened skinhead while also celebrating a goofiness in self-presentation. Near see-through jet-black turtlenecks with Russian prints will fly off the racks of Dover Street Market. The cargo trousers had the perfect silhouette for such a pant, loose but not baggy and cropped but never tight. The outerwear, which Gosha is proving he has a knack for, was excellent. The oversized shearling coats were the type of coat you just want to live in all winter.

Haider Ackermann

Haider Ackermann’s brand has always had this interesting aesthetic that seems like it’s designed for the wild child son or daughter of some aristocratic one percenter. The child who shuns the family business, goes to art school, takes tons of drugs and spends daddy’s money on records and expensive clothes, and still inherits his/her parents’ worth and stumbles into a board meeting one day ready to take total control. While wearing Haider of course. That is always what has made the brand cool to me, and perhaps why the brand is favored by so many of our most inherently punk rock pop culture icons. Tilda Swinton loves the brand, and Kanye has employed various Haider products (oversized velvet sweatshirts, velvet bombers, gigantic hoodies) and made them the new look of the fashion conscious hip-hop industry (Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God line is basically Haider silhouettes of skateboarding garb). Perhaps with that newfound relevance, Haider embraced his most abrasive inner wild child with the FW 2016 collection. While nothing new for Haider, it’s still totally unique in the culture of brands. The male models in the show, wearing Bauhaus Mohawks, wore mis-matched jacquard suits and magnificently garish velvet coats. The women, with shaved heads, snugged themselves into lovely leathers. The blue velvet pieces were out of this world, and immediately brought to mind the fetishizing of the material in its namesake David Lynch film. I want to wear some of Haider’s stuff badly, perhaps he could do the next H&M collection?

Kolor

Fresh off a very successful collection with adidas (his Ultra Boost colorway was fire, I got a paid, woohoo) Junichi Abe has never appeared so confident in his design chops. The Kolor FW 2016 collection, though lacking in the color that you might expect, employed all the aesthetic choices that make Abe so compelling. Everything is slightly mismatched, a little off, and yet so right all the same. A multi-layered look with trousers, bomber jacket, and shirt, was actually one solitary piece. I’m not sure anyone wants to buy a pre-made outfit, but that is the level of skill you are dealing with when it comes to Abe. The most conventional looks, such as a droopy double-breasted khaki blazer, and the oddest looks, such as a blue plastic labcoat, all felt part of a cohesive narrative world. That is I suppose what is so interesting about Abe. Perception of him as a whole is of an artistic rebel in the world of fashion, but his clothes are quite normal and easy on the eyes. In person however, you find design flourishes that are more difficult, and even more compelling.

Rick Owens

Few designers do post-apocalyptic fashion better than Rick Owens, afterall, he was the designer who kept Mad Max in vogue long before Fury Road collectively blew our fucking minds last year. But with 2015 the world’s hottest year ever recorded, Owens is legitimately worried that the world is ending. But he’s a tough guy. It’s easy to see Rick Owens as the Rick Grimes of his own goth fashion tribe, and he’s not going down without a fight. His apocalypse army will survive looking sick, of course. The looks oscillated between Owens touchstones, like his perfect minimalist bomber jackets and his brutalist man dresses, between works of great architectural care that nevertheless presented themselves as part of some eternal unknown. Perhaps the biggest shockers were the standard black blazers. But nevertheless, Rick is ready to take on the end, and he will have his acolytes going out looking tough and stylish as fuck.

Lemaire

While people swooned over the garish H&M X Balmain collaborative collection, I was happily picking up every piece by from the understated, comfortable, and elegant collection from Christopher Lemaire’s collaboration with Uniqlo. Lemaire, a former designer of Hermes, understands that luxury is not always (or for everyone) about standing out. It’s about feeling good and comfortable so you can stand out on you own, and let your personality do the talking for you. He is a true minimalist designer, finding perfection in blank slates and unique structures. His FW 2016 collection was full of chalky and dark colored structured jackets and blazers, oversized trousers, tunics, and more. These are the types of clothes that I would most often like to wear, and their easiness is their inherent appeal.

Yohji Yammamoto

Admittedly, I’m a bit of a Yojhi nut, but I don’t feel biased in declaring this one of Yammamoto’s best seasons in recent memories (though the last one was pretty good). The Japanese revolution of designers has been insanely long-lasting in the ever-evolving fashion sphere. Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garcons is the largest avant fashion label in the world and she is the champion of so many of the leftfield designers of the future. Issey Miyake, though less involved in the design of his garments, continues diversifying in his brand. And Yohji, at age 72, continues to push the envelop. His Y-3 show was as interesting as ever, especially considering that Y-3 has been tapped by NASA to design the first ever fashion for space. But Yammamoto’s namesake brand has always been his ideal man, a cigarette smoking frolicking dark dandy with a permanent sourpuss. The FW 2016 collection featured Yammamoto at his most precious, with tiny t-shirts covering heavy outerwear displaying a squeezed effect inspired by when kids go out in the snow and their parents make them put on all their clothes. Everything was nicely draped. The scarves were sick. And as always, Yohji’s underrated footwear designs were some of the nicest on any catwalk.

Honorable Mentions

Sacai’s FW 2016 collection, apparently about peace and love or something, displayed a stunning color palettes of greys and burgundies as well as black stripe pattern. Takahiro Miyashita the Soloist’s new collection, always inspired by rock n’ roll, offered some sly but wearable design flourishes, like a pullover MA-1. Ann Demeulemeester, now designed by ever-intense Sebastian Meunier, offered a romantic and gothic take on contemporary male beauty. And Thom Browne threw luxury in your face and then tattered it to pieces before turning it into luxury again.

[FASHION] Best of Milan Menswear Fall/Winter 2016

January 22, 2016

Text by Adam Lehrer

I’m firmly backing Milan again. Of course, we are all familiar with Alessandro Michele’s came changing work at Gucci, but it feels like Italian luxury heritage is more important than it ever has been. With the mega-packed fashion schedule demanding designers create at paces that consumers simply can’t keep up with, there’s more in-demand for luxury products that you can count on to last a lifetime. It seems exceedingly silly to fork over $2,500 for some cutting edge coat by some hot shot designer when it could be looking stupid on me in six months, especially when I can buy a perfect coat from an Italian house like Brioni for the same amount of doh. And Brioni ain’t ever going out of style.

FW 2016 was a strong season in Milan. With staples like Prada and Bottega Veneta both offering sharp new creative directions, luxury kings Zegna and Canali offering just odd enough takes on mega-sharp style, and injections of youth from Damir Doma and a re-invigorated Iceberg.

No. 21

Designer Alessandro Dell’Acqua, who was an Italian fashion staple in the ‘90s, came back on the scene with new line No. 21 in 2010. Though perhaps best known for his womenswear and footwear, the No. 21 FW 2016 menswear collection was the best assortment of male products the designer has ever put out. From the very first and highly desirable piece seen, an oversized silhouette military hoodie jacket, Dell’Acqua presents a highly wearable form of conceptual luxury. Dell’Acqua seems to be seeking a decidedly Italian take on Haider Ackermann’s punk rocker gone bourgeoisie. There are leopard print coats, billowing tight cargo trousers, and a whole range of muted but eye-grabbing colors. I had never before even though much of Dell’Acqua as a menswear designer, but there were more pieces in this show that I wanted than any other show of the season.

Brioni

Lead by creative director Brendan Mullane, a former menswear designer at Givenchy, Brioni has become one of the most intriguing high luxury menswear brands in the game. The clothes, for lack of a better term, look perfect. Mullane has done some really awesome things with the house, noting it as a label of interest for aristocratic creative men. Last year Autre favorite artists John Armleder and Seth Price were part of a Brioni campaign. Mullane’s FW 2016 collection, set to a rousing Bjork soundtrack, captured the DNA of the brand, few surprises but nothing less than utterly desirable. The sandblasted plaid suits and coats made me want to grow up. The wool mockneck sweatshirts were pieces that I wanted to wear everyday; with jeans or with trousers. Brioni is about the clothes, and doesn’t impose its brand ethos on the customer. Anyone would look amazing in these pieces.

Bottega Veneta

Now that Tomas Maier has helped usher in sportswear into luxury, it’s time to abandon sportswear in luxury. Maier is a futurist at heart, and what is the future if not a luxury? Instead, jet black and austerely architectural suiting took over the runway for Maier’s FW ’16 collection. The coats were some of the best Maier has ever put out. Black trench coats with flowing locks of fabrics and attached sweater like structures were only bested by the baggy elongated shearling jackets. Leather in fantastical colors of reds and blues solidified Maier’s reputation as a master designer of leather silhouettes. If I ever struck it rich, I’d wear this everyday.

Thom Browne

Even at his most accessible, Thom Browne remains willfully and exuberantly conceptual. Projects like his Brooks Brothers label saw him honing in on a specific point; a story that he wanted to tell. He doesn’t mince ideas or his labor. His work with outdoor wear behemoth Moncler Gamma Bleu has been mutually beneficial for the designer and the brand. The brand, knowing it’ll sell well regardless, allows Browne to really throw a wild show and bring some experimental flair to it. Browne, interested in brands like Valentino’s attempts at using camo to stand out instead of blend in, took that idea to its umpteenth conclusion. The Moncler FW ’16 collection featured models in riot helmets covered in garish camo prints like some sort of out and proud death squad. Vogue admonished the show, calling it “garish stage dressing.” But I think that’s more or less the point. With his own label, Browne has redefined how professional men dress. With Moncler, he’s able to bring his name to the brand and inject some vitality into it. For his efforts, Moncler allows Browne to poke some fun at the idea of a fashion show (and pay him fuckloads of money to be sure).

Calvin Klein

When you think about the designers that have had the most influence over contemporary menswear, there are a few no-brainers: Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Thom Browne, Junya Watanabe. Then there are those who you might not think of right away, but agree with as soon as they come up: Acne Studios’ Johnny Johannsen, A.P.C.’s Jean Touitou, and the like. Whatever the case, at some point Calvin Klein’s Italo Zuchelli will take his rightful place on this list. Most style conscious guys, those that live in the real world and not in street style blogs, dress fairly minimal but nevertheless care about the quality of their clothes. No one does minimal or quality quite as uniquely as Zuchelli. His FW ’16 collection played with all sorts of menswear and Calvin Klein house codes. Perfectly tailored suits were clung to the taut bodies of some of the world’s most beautiful female models: Iselin Steiro, Jessica Miller, and Gemma Ward among them. His experimentations with denim this time around were especially striking, turning the fabled Canadian tuxedo into a white jacquard jump suit. Not since Helmut Lang has denim seemed so much like high fashion as high fashion, and not high fashion aping streetwear.

Damir Doma

Though he might still be viewed as something of a cult designer, Damir Doma’s brand is growing strongly (I bought some pants of his at a Century 21). The sculptural designer wants to tell more stories, staging his FW ’16 collection next to a high-speed train. His vision has really matured since taking it from Paris to Italy last year, moving away from Rick Owens-lite into a structured and high luxury Italian version of austere and gothic garment manufacturing. There was something of the setting for this show too. Developed under the rule of Mussolini, it has since become one of the most efficient train stations in the world. Perhaps a metaphor for Doma’s breaking free of the shackles of Paris’s high competition schedule, he’s allowed to really tap into something that he does uniquely: shape. Doma is able to take garments such as bomber jackets and kimonos and cut them into shapes that make the perfect amount of sense. They look familiar, somehow. The palette was decidedly Kubric, off-white and black and khaki. Great show for Mr. Doma.

Gucci

Though Alessandro Michele’s FW ’16 collection didn’t update anything he had done the first two seasons, he further cemented the new Gucci world. Though I highly doubt this new Gucci is targeting its new “Gucci man,” the business is climbing because people are thoroughly fascinated at this world that sales are climbing. People want to buy into this: a jacket here or trousers there. Whether or not you could ever see yourself wearing this stuff (I wouldn’t, to be sure) it’s amazing to see how Michele has not only brought Gucci back to life, but also brought attention back to Milan altogether.

Honorable Mentions

Though it wasn’t technically part of the Milan schedule, Korean label Juun J’s FW ’16 collection was the best the label has ever offered. Prada’s FW ’16 collection offered all sorts of textures, layers, and the ever-noticeable Prada look. So good on that. And Stefano Pilati, one of the most underrated designers in menswear, flexed his suiting muscles hard with the Zegna FW ’16 collection, making the most black of black suits look like pieces or architectural wonder.

[FASHION REVIEW] Our Favorites From London Collections: Men

January 18, 2016

text by Adam Lehrer

It's been a full week since LCM, which is an eternity in the world of fashion, but we like to take our time to really analyze the collections for their sartorial craftiness, relevance in culture and wearableness. Anyway, another season another killer London Collections: Men.. Bless Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, because as we’ve said before, London is far and away smoking the menswear game in terms of new and subversive talent. So, yes, cool creative guys are wearing lots of clothes by British designers, but what is most amazing about the London talent is that these guys have really been stunning at creating their own customer bases and as a result have created substantial businesses without having to sacrifice creativity for commercial appeal. Nasir Mazhar has identified his adventurous grime rapper looking for something with heavier design than the standard Adidas or Nike tracksuit (nothing wrong with said tracksuit, however I’m wearing an adidas track jacket while writing this, cozy as fuck). Craig Geeen has found a gender-neutral customer looking to make poetic statements with flowing fabrics. Casely-Hayford has tapped into an older wearer, a man that used to play in a punk band and now spends his time painting and taking trips to the country for camping and hiking. It’s astounding the amount of brands in London that have so seamlessly (well, actually, with gruesome work ethic) developed a definable but ever-growing story surrounding the brands.

The Fall-Winter 2016 shows saw these stories mutating and developing, with designers like Liam Hodges and Cottweiler establishing firmer directions for their well-defined aesthetic ideas. Nevertheless, London titans Alexander McQueen and conventional brethren Burberry set forth their strongest shows in seasons. So, hard to narrow down these collections to favorites, to say the least. But there can only be seven.

Craig Green

Still abstract and poetic in its assembly, Craig Green’s FW 2016 collection nevertheless presented a vision that might more immediately appeal to men (and as much so to women, as women have eaten up Craig Green possibly more then dudes). What I find most impressive about Craig is that in show, his collections look as abstract and architectural and plain fucking weird as anything Rei Kawakubo has ever done. But unlike Rei, when I see the clothes in retail I see a great utilitarian jacket. The design is in the possibilities for styling within that jacket, which seem limitless. This aesthetic works even better in FW 2016 with its earthy muted colors. The collection had some of Green’s most far out pieces, with the sort of bondage pieces barely concealing models’ bodies, but also some of his more accessible pieces. The oversized tan crewneck in silk looks like something I could wear all winter. With Craig, there doesn’t seem to be immediate touchstones, like say, “Hedi Slimane tapped into surfer punks.” It’s vague and poetic, defined by an abstract architecture. The story is defined purely by image, and not by a defined context.

Cottweiler

Fetishization is near always interesting, and the fetishization of athletic wear by men is a singular trademark of the urban millennial. Cottweiler has developed a rabid cult following conceptualizing this trend, and with every season the design duo, Brits Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty, has sharpened this aesthetic. The duo seems highly aware of contemporary art, architecture, and performance, eschewing a conventional runway show for grandiose displays of design. For FW ’16, Cottweiler explored the relationship between modern technology and how nature reacts to it. That idea came through strong in this collection, with a lineup of models dressed in Cottweiler staple track jackets but also knitwear made of new-to-the-brand materials like Sheepskin, elevated by platform and surrounded by bamboo and vegetation. Is tech enhancing our relationship to nature, hindering it, or a little bit of both? Option C, Cottweiler suggests.

Katie Eary

Remember how the album by nu-metal band System of a Down came out the week of 9/11 and, due to its politically charged themes, it was heralded as a work of great artistic achievements? Well, probably not, but they were decent enough either way. The point is, sometimes a work of creativity comes out at precisely the right time, warranting it more attention and discussion than perhaps it deserves. Case in point, Katie Eary’s FW 2016 collection. While the clothes alook good enough, it’s the fact that they celebrate David Bowie’s great contributions to menswear that make them stand out, especially during this week when we sadly lost the man to cancer. Inspired by documentary Sacred Triangle that documented the creativity camaraderie of Bowie, Iggy, and Lou Reed, the collection featured lots of menswear staples presented in a gender fluid manner; such as, a traditional western jacket over a silver leather workwear suit. Would Bowie have worn this stuff two weeks ago? Nope. 30 years ago? Everyday.

Nasir Mazhar

With his SS 2016 collection, Nasir Mazhar opted for dark monochrome over his better known colorful palette, re-evaluating his stance after losing his father. From my viewpoint, it was his best collection yet, fully targeting the grime community that worships him as deity. His FW 2016 collection continued in this tradition, employing his perfect tracksuits with more abstract looks. The garment draped riot helmets were some of the most striking looks Nasir has ever sent down a runway, and the bondage leathered female models looked absolutely smoking. Unlike other conceptual designers, Nasir designs for an active body, making it easier for me to imagine myself wearing even the more difficult pieces. I’ll be honest, I want a lot of this stuff. I’m sick of denim jackets for one thing, and Nasir’s rumpled track jackets look like the just interesting enough antidote to finding a new layer to throw under a trench coat. Cool shoes, too.

Casely-Hayford

Father and son design duo Charlie and Joe Casely-Hayford define the contemporary state of London menswear as well as any brand on the circuit: few designers are able to translate the luxury craft of Savile Row with the street friendly cultural references paramount to London culture so easily. In a recent article in The New Order magazine, father Joe described his interest in fashion being piqued through early shopping experiences at Vivian Westwood’s shop Let it Rock, where none other than one time Sex Pistols member Glen Matlock would help him try on looks. And of course, Joe would also get seriously luxury trained as creative director at Savile Row behemoth Gieves and Hawkes. Joe has amazing cultural taste and crazy tailoring skills, while son Charlie brings the Casely-Hayford label a Central Saint Martins-educated design skill and a youthful exuberance. Charlie has stated that all their collections begin with a discussion about music and youth culture. The duo really goes wild with a concept. For FW 2016, Casely-Hayford taps into imperial military outfits as re-imagined by Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club band. The psychedelic patterns on the dinner jackets and trousers were tastefully decadent. Bomber nylon was added to down jackets. Speaking of bombers, nearly ever designer does one seemingly ever season, and why not? They are always top sellers because they look, well, sick. But Casely-Haford constantly finds new ways to reinvent the staple, seen here as an elongated silhouette with fringe touching the floor and scraps of denim patchworked into the Nylon. I can see myself blowing some credit to get my hands on one of those.

Alexander McQueen

As successful as Sarah Burton has been at continuing Alexander McQueen’s legacy with womenswear is as wishy-washy she has been at solidifying that success with menswear. Seldom do I ever see a piece that I would blow the obscene amounts of money indicated by the price tags to get my hands on anything logo’d with Alexander McQueen. FW 2016 was a vast improvement though, capturing the gothic romanticism of McQueen’s fascinations as well as the razor sharp tailoring that he made his bones with. Superior suiting glued to near-starving looking dudes was revved up by employments of moth graphics, adding a macabre flair to traditional menswear garb. A few dudes walked around with faux-facial jewelry matching brutal silver accessories hanging over tuxedo jackets. This would be a smart direction for the brand to go in: cocktail attire for wealthy male artists and musicians, etc.. I would love to see post-punk bands employing this look.

Astrid Anderson

A more subdued Astrid Anderson is not at all a boring Astrid Anderson, as evidenced by the wool-heavy FW 2016 collection. With co-signs from A$AP Rocky and Ferg, Astrid has arguably become contemporary hip-hop’s new favorite designer. Despite that, Astrid never designs her clothes to the tastes of her rapper friends; instead those rappers redefine their tastes to wear Astrid Anderson. Starting the show with a sleek wool tracksuit, the ostentatious flair was dialed down in favor of clean and desirable design. The gold floral patterned gym shorts was more in-line with what we’ve seen with Astrid in the past, though a bit more dare I say classic? Of the things I’d most like to wear, must point out the knitwear. The loose silhouettes looked absolutely perfect, calling to mind a more club-minded Haider Ackermann with interesting shades of lime and solitary stripes. This sweater looked even cleaner when cut in half by the stripe, lime on the top and baby blue on the bottom. The plaid hoodie and sweats under a sweet black trench will be all over the street style blogs. With the show soundtracked by legendary Parisian DJ Brodinski, Astrid seems aware enough of the underground to both take cues from and influence it.

Honorable mentions

The Man Show was particularly strong this year, with Grace Wales Bonner re-imaginings of the contemporary black man as a man of taste and luxury looking particularly poised to make serious cultural and financial impact. One of my personal favorites, Liam Hodges, offered his most realized collection yet. With his well-defined tribe behind him, it doesn’t seem to be reaching to think that Liam Hodges could achieve Rick Owens-esque success. Matthew Miller, who has a tendency to over explain his ideas, is best understood as a man who deigns sick fucking coats, with FW ’16 no exception. Agi & Sam, displaying men’s and women’s looks, offered a minimalist collection with useless but stunning details, such as sleeves hanging below inches below hands. E. Tauz appears to be taking cues from Christopher Lemaire: simple simple simple, with amazingly structured and flowing silhouette.

The Best Gallery Exhibits Of 2015

December 17, 2015

text by Adam Lehrer

Counting down your favorite gallery exhibits is much harder than putting together any other list. It’s not like your favorite music that you can hear again and again, or your favorite films and shows that in most cases you can go back to when you need to or want to, and it’s not even like a play where you most likely will have the opportunity to experience it again. A gallery show is a singular experience, and seldom do people go more than to passively glance at the work, schmooze with other high society types (note: I am not a high society type, I am a poor person that often rubs elbows with these people hoping they never get around to asking what a critic makes these days), and grab a drink. That means for the gallery exhibition to stick with you, it has to manifest as a transcendent experience. The best exhibits give you a feeling, and whether or not that feeling is the one proposed by the artist is beside the point. The art is your experience, and it belongs to you. 2015 has been, admittedly, a great year for art across almost all mediums. Bear in mind, I’m only including exhibits I’ve actually seen; thus, there will be a lot of New York-centric stuff.

1. Mark Bradford, Be Strong Boquan, Hauser & Wirth

Mark Bradford was recently featured in a T Magazine piece along with fellow artists Theaster Gates and Rick Lowe. The article celebrates the artists and their adherences to using art to a higher social calling. Bradford is not afraid to imbue his work with big concepts, as evidenced by his fall exhibition at Hauser & Wirth. In a collection of paintings and a video project, Bradford explores the early AIDS crisis and our government’s response to it, juxtaposing the horror to the jubilation of 1980s club culture. The exhibit’s most talked-about piece, Spiderman (2015), is a response to Eddie Murphy’s homophobia and misogyny in his 1980s stand-up classic Delirious. In the piece, an unseen black comedian makes jokes about Eazy-E’s battle with HIV and the black community’s encounter with AIDS, while a laugh track plays underneath. The piece implicates the viewers and their complicit laughter. Be Strong Boquan is not an easily forgotten body of work. Click here to see our full coverage.

2. Wolfgang Tillmans, Polymerase Chain Reaction, David Zwirner

Operating as a photographer since the early ‘90s, Wolfgang Tillmans has never felt as relevant as he does now. And that is saying something, considering he has been rightfully respected as one of the world’s foremost fine art photographers for over a decade. Tillmans is heavily featured in a stunning new issue of Arena Homme + with two full interviews and a slew of images culled from his amazing 2015 David Zwirner exhibit, PCR. Featuring 100 of Tillmans’ recent images, the installation is emblematic of Tillmans’ unique relationship to space. The exhibit itself was a considered artwork, with Tillmans using each image to create one solitary piece. It was an utterly expansive work, covering the entirety of Zwirner’s New York location’s first floor. Tillmans’ imagery of life: partying, suffering, joys, and pain; is juxtaposed by his references to time. All of this happens in a unique realm of the infinite. Click here to see our full coverage.

3. Agathe Snow, Continuum, The Journal Gallery

Agathe Snow has too often been relegated to the descriptor, “Dash Snow’s ex-wife.” The legacy that her late ex-husband left behind is one that surely shadows the fascinating body of work that Agathe has created. In Continuum, Agathe made great use of the Journal Gallery’s unique space with its 30 ft-high walls being met to the ceiling by her gigantic papier mâché sculptures. The sculptures themselves can best be described as totems, portals to a world beyond our own mortal lives. A startlingly personal show for an artist who has faced much loss in her life, Agathe was able to create an exhibition that was tactilely brilliant and emotionally resonant.

4. Mike Kelley, Kandors, Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth is my personal commercial gallery of the year, and the late Mike Kelley (my personal number one all time artist) had some of his later life work shown, specifically the Kandors. Some artists think sporadically, stacking multiple ideas into a single show. Kelley is more in-line with the obsessive artists that generate a quantity of ideas after the one. The one in this case, is Kelley’s take on Superman mythology, specifically Superman’s home city of Kandor that was shrunk to globe size by the villain Brainiac. The exhibition begins with a set of illuminated sculptures glowing in neon that all depict the various ways that Superman’s home planet was illustrated in various different series of the comics. The show culminates with Fortress of Solitude, a life-sized rendition of Superman’s secret cave with the retrieved Kandor globe where he would go to ruminate on his relationship to the Earth and his condition of being a part and apart from it all the same. It jibes with the narrative of being an artist in the contemporary world, as evidenced by the short film shown at the end of the exhibition, which uses Fortress of Solitude as a set. There will never be an artist like Mike Kelley again. Click here to see our full coverage.

5. Elmgreen and Dragset, Past Tomorrow, Galerie Perrotin

“Norman Swann’s Family Fortune is Long Gone,’ reads the opening line of a book written by Danish artists, Elmgreen and Dragset, accompanying the duo’s exhibition of the same name at Galerie Perrotin earlier this year. The labor that goes into Elmgreen and Dragset’s work is astounding enough, but the duo must be credited for creating a whole new form of storytelling. The exhibition is literally an interpretation of the home of unseen character Norman Swann, and as you walk through it, it becomes a mystery that can be solved. It is an engaging form of art, but what is at the root of Elmgreen and Dragset’s exhibition is a rumination on inconsoloable loneliness and regret. Though Norman isn’t real, we feel for him, or for whomever he actually is. The exhibition engulfed me in a profound state of empathy.

6. Jeffrey Gibson, Jeffrey Gibson, Marc Straus Gallery

As Jeffrey Gibson has come to embrace his Native American ancestry more in his work, the other elements of his work have become more effective: politics, music, subculture, queer theory, art history, and more are all given a unique perspective. Though it shouldn’t be surprising to have a Native American take on these subjects, it is simply due to the fact that I have not ever been exposed to it. If that is my fault or the educational system’s fault I am not here to say. I can say that I am a massive fan of Gibson’s work. His use of fabrics and beads are always given a contemporary feel, and his series of punching bags that are all applied the titles of various outsider sub-cultures (Goths, punks, etc..) look like nothing else available on the art market.

7. Isa Genzken, David Zwirner

I have been fascinated by German artist, Isa Genzken’s interest in clothing and how it relates to the sculpture of the human body. On May 1, in Berlin at Galerie Bucholz, Genzken had a honest-to-goodness fashion show with models of both genders wearing clothes she created in 1998. The paint splattered and mightily distressed garments stretch the boundaries of good taste while making us ponder the fact that if perhaps some mighty atelier sewed these, we might consider them to be the highest of fashion. At her recent exhibit at Zwirner, Genzken draped life-sized mannequins in similarly distressed garments as well as other human-shaped sculptures. Along with the fashion show, it seems Genzken is now more than ever looking to address how we sculpt our own bodies in image. Some of the mannequins wear Genzken’s personal clothing, denoting a kind of self-portrait or a need to understand her own shape. Not to mention, I met Kim Gordon at the opening, so it’s hard not to look back on the exhibit with a smile. Click here to see our full coverage.

8. Justin Adian, Strangers, Skarstedt Gallery

What I love about Justin Adian’s work is its juxtaposition. He has this very design-oriented and art deco-inspired clean aesthetic derived from his unique process of stretching canvases over shaped foam that at the same time captures his youthful love of what the pretentious art world would consider “low culture:” punk rock, horror films, Black Flag. Adian said at a seminar for his recent exhibition, Strangers, that he has never moved on from something he loves or finds interesting. From hardcore to Frank Stella, he just keeps adding references to his œuvre. Much has been said of the Texan artist’s thematic similarities to Texan minimalism. They aren’t untrue either, as Adian infuses a healthy amount of humor into his singular style. What separates Adian most from Texan minimalism is that narrative has a powerful place in his work. Adian does have stories in mind when he creates, and went as far as to include a booklet of short stories to accompany this exhibition. Click here to read our coverage.

9. Scooter LaForge, How to Create a Monsterpiece, Howl! Happening

Scooter LaForge had the biggest year of his career. First, Walter Van Bierendonck elected to use LaForge’s prints for his SS 2015 collection that saw LaForge working on an installation at the London Dover Street Market location. Then, after creating one off wearable art garments for Patricia Field for some years, high fashion and streetwear retailer VFiles brought LaForge in to do the same for their clientele. Finally, he just collaborated again with Pat Field on another installation at DSM’s New York location that offers a Pat Field-curated vision of fashion. All the work in fashion has exponentially increased interest in LaForge’s art resulting in four solo exhibitions this year. His show at Howl! Happening felt like the tip of the iceberg, using the gallery’s impressive space to show off all the work that he has accomplished in creating these past few years. His paintings, sculptures, and garments were all shown as a single body of work with identifiable imagery and characters. It also marked LaForge as the first contemporary artist to show at the gallery, putting him in the lineage of important downtown New York artists. Howl! Happening had a very first impressive year, with major shows by Lydia Lunch, Arturo Vega, Clayton Patterson, and Tim Clifford. The spirit of New York lives in this organization.

10. Jose Parla, Surface Body/Action Space, Mary Boone Gallery and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

Jose Parla’s paintings are marked by decay, history, and emotion. The massive body of work that is Surface Body/Action Space that needed two galleries to host the large body of canvases tells a story that is both personal to Parla and to the viewer. It can be any story, and you can attribute what you need to it for your own purposes. Parla is able to make rust and decay look beautiful, or perhaps make you realize that deterioration is beautiful. He has exponentially matured artistically, but the essence of freedom within the work remains the same.

Top 5 Fashion Retrospectives and Exhibitions Around the World

December 4, 2015

From New York to the Netherlands, from legendary big-names and up-and-coming innovators, here are our picks for the best fashion retrospectives and exhibitions going on right now:

1.

The Circle brings together garments from the archives of legendary designers in conversation about the Celtic roots of glamour. Presented by Hackney’s Live Archives, the exhibition features work by Margiela, Rick Owens, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and more. The Circle will run until December 5 at Live Archives, London.

2.

Viva Moschino! is the first retrospective on the brilliantly exuberant Franco Moschino. Featuring approximately 40 ensembles and accessories from 1983-1994, the retrospective highlights both Moschino’s resistance to the industry norm (read: the famous “Waist of Money” jacket) and his eloquent craftsmanship. Viva Moschino! is on view now until April 2016 at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.

3.

Denim: Fashion’s Frontier at FIT explores how denim evolved from dude ranch wear to a staple of high fashion. The comprehensive exhibition features denim pieces from Levi Strauss and Woodstock to Gucci and Fiorucci. Denim: Fashion’s Frontier is on view now until May 2016 at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

4.

Utopian Bodies explores how fashion can be used to imagine a better future. Featuring legends like John Galliano (for Dior) and Prada as well as newcomers like Claire Barrow, the exhibition is a “visual feast” of the imaginative fashion world. Utopian Bodies will be on view until February 2016 at Liljevalchs Gallery, Liljevalchs, Stockholm.

5.

The Future of Fashion Is Now looks at new, innovation work from contemporary, up-and-coming designers around the world. Works include sustainable laces grown from strawberry plants (by UK designer Carole Collet) and a solar-panel jacket that charges your phone while you wear it (Pauline van Dongen). See the next generation of designers until January 18th at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Text by Keely Shinners

Patricia Field Brings Her Sartorial Genius to A Dover Street Market Holiday Gift Shop

December 3, 2015

Text by Adam Lehrer

Patricia Field is best known to a certain generation of women as the coveted costume designer behind the looks of Carrie Bradshaw, but she means infinitely more to the convergence of fashion with downtown New York’s art world. Since the 1980s when she held exhibitions for the budding artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat at her East Village boutique, Field has been a champion of both New York grown artists and fashion designers. She has truly one of the most unique eyes in the world. “I look for the same thing in art that I look for in fashion,” says Field. “It’s chemical. I see it, I like it, and I go for it.”

It is that eye that is being celebrated at Dover Street Market with a Patricia Field-curated gift shop featuring one of a kind wearable art pieces by Field’s favorite artists and designers and a selection of accessories, jewelry, and apparel at a more accessible price point.

For the Dover Street Market installation, Field has selected designers from a pool of artists that she worked with in the ‘80s as well as contemporary artists that she believes owe a debt to the art movement of the ‘80s. Leading the charge is New York-based artist Scooter LaForge. LaForge has been designing and creating wearable art works for Field’s boutique for five years now, likening his work in garments to Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Combines,’ in that he uses every material he can get his hands on to bring the garments into fruition. His prints have also been used by Antwerp 6 Belgian menswear designer Walter Van Bierendonck. “I always dreamed of doing a collaboration with Pat,” says LaForge. “I met Pat in a nightclub and sold her some shirts. Things took off from there.”

Other artists who will have garments at the DSM Christmas Gift shop include surrealist film animator Suzan Pitt, Underground designer Apostolos Mitropoulous, leftist fashion designer G-Lish, one-of-a-kind accessories designer Badacious, New York-based artist and conceptual fashion designer best known for her hat designs Heidi Lee, and designer and stylist David Dalrymple. All of these designers will offer their own takes on wearable art pieces all of which will be handmade and one-of-a-kind. “It’s conceptual couture,” says LaForge of wearable art’s difference with fashion. “As long as it wasn’t made in a factory and there is only one out there, it’s wearable art.”

While so many of us are drawn to garments based on the labels they carry, whether it be Raf Simons or Alexander McQueen, LaForge is struck by Field’s ability to connect with garments based on her own emotions as opposed to constructs created by brands. “She doesn’t care if it was made by Galliano or some kid in the street,” says LaForge. “She only looks at clothes, and if they speak to her she’ll love it.”

Field tapped interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz to design the space in which the garments will inhabit, seeing his aesthetic as a natural home for the LaForge-described “controlled chaos” of Field’s vision. “I find that Scooter and Benjamin are parallel in their senses of humor,” says Field. “There is a certain frivolity that is present in Benjamin’s work.”

There are a lot of creative minds at work in this installation. Never mind all the artists designing garments for the space, but of course DSM and Comme des Garcons head honcho Rei Kawakubo has final approval over every installation AND every garment that appears in Dover Street Market. But make no mistake: this installation is the brain trust of Patricia Field in every sense. “It’s all Pat Fields all the time,” says LaForge. “It’s all about her. I thought it was important to have the essence of Pat Fields in the pop-up shop. I thought it was important for people to know what she finds to be important and what she believes in right now. She’s like a modern day Peggy Guggenheim.”

Field has one of the most enviable creative careers New York has ever seen. Whether designing clothes for her own store or for movies and television or shining spotlight on her favorite artists and designers, she is always looking to expand her creative palette. The Dover Street Market Holiday Gift Shop is a new and exciting challenge. “The best way for me to continue being happy is to be creative,” says Field. “Subconsciously, I keep trying new things, and this keeps life exciting.”

The installation opens tonight, December 3rd. Dover Street Market New York is located at 160 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016

A Fond Farewell to the Legendary Raf Simons and Autre's Educated Predictions On Who Might Take Over At Maison Dior

October 28, 2015

When it was announced that Alexander Wang would be leaving his position as creative director at Balenciaga, no one was immensely surprised: critics scoffed at collections and more importantly, sales were down. Raf Simons’ decision to leave Dior comes as much more of a shock. The brand has stated that Raf is leaving due to “personal reasons,” including desire to further grow his menswear brand and do other things with his life. Fair enough. Running two brands has to be one of the most emotionally and physically draining lifestyles a human could possibly lead (with all the Raf Simons and Dior collections, Raf was doing a whopping 10 collections a year). But if you have seen ‘Dior and I’ you might have noticed Raf also had early difficulty adjusting to the atelier of the house. When working with his own brand, and to a lesser extent at Jil Sander, Raf probably grew accustomed to having an idea and then having his team do everything in their powers to bring forth that idea into fruition. The film shows Raf angry over things like finding out that his Dior pattern cutter had flown to New York on a couture trip when he is on a three week deadline to unleash his first Dior collection to the world. Though the film eventually portrays Raf and the Dior atelier coming to terms and celebrating a magnificent first collection, it stands to reason that this wouldn’t be the last time that the designer would find himself annoyed over the stifling big business-minded practices of Dior.

I would have liked to see much more Raf Simons at Dior. His departure is made all the more surprising when you watch this video from the Business of Fashion: Raf seemed like he was all in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCkpCPZ59l8. But there’s no point in lamenting. Instead, let’s celebrate the wonderful Raf Simons X Dior moments: Fall 2012 Haute Couture, FW 2013, SS 2014, Resort 2015, and so much more.

All and all, I’d argue that in only thee years Raf Simons established himself in the lineage of the great Dior creative directors along with Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, John Galliano, and Christian Dior himself.

So who the hell is going to be able to fill the Raf Simons-sized hole in the middle of Dior’s womenswear department? Here's a few educated predictions by Autre's trusty fashion editor-at-large, Adam Lehrer.

Christopher Kane:

When Scottish designer Christopher Kane founded his namesake label in 2006, the tight fitting silhouette was at the forefront of fashion. Kane revived a looser fit, allowing billowy and loose-fitting garments to hang from the body that remained effortlessly elegant. That effortlessness would be ideal for Dior, a label that prides itself on putting out clothes that women feel both beautiful and comfortable in. His color palette, full of blood reds and powerful blues, would feel right at home in the context of Dior ready-to-wear collections. On top of all that, Kane seems to have a true understanding of quality, and has always known how to price his garments accordingly. If you pair that knowledge of quality with the limitless resources and powerful atelier of Dior, Kane might be able to match the success of his predecessor in a role as creative director at the label.

Phoebe Philo:

Considering how successful, even revolutionary, Phoebe Philo has been in her role as creative director of Céline, it’s unlikely that LVMH would encourage the designer to leave her role and take on a new one at Dior. Philo has always had the remarkable ability to leave her mark on a house while paying respects to its ethos as she has done in her roles leading Chloé and Céline. She is very often thought of as something of a minimal designer (as was Raf), but minimal can be such a reductive term when describing what she does (and what Raf does). I would better describe it as restrained. Restrained fashion can be interpreted as effortless, and effortless is central to the mission of Dior. She also is not given enough credit for her penchant for feminine opulence; take a look at her FW 2015 collection that featured zebra patterns and pom poms. And with Dior always claiming to be ground zero for discovering knew ways for women to dress, isn’t it about time they let a woman decide those new ways?

Gareth Pugh:

My personal wild card. As unlikely as seeing Gareth Pugh enlisted to a house as commercial as Dior is, you have to admit that the idea is interesting. Pugh would most likely be hard pressed to accept a position at Dior, considering this is the man who squatted to be able to afford his runway shows before his clothes actually sold anywhere. But Raf was once a designer that people best thought of for making male noise rockers and Goths look luxurious, granted his successful tenure at Jil Sander. The point is: a conceptual designer isn’t out of place at a house like Dior. Raf is conceptual. Galliano is certainly conceptual (the dude set a haute couture show to the Stooges, one of the best fashion shows ever by the way). Yves was definitely conceptual. I am very interested in seeing what Pugh would be able to do if he was given the constraints that Dior places on him. In his own label, he’s proved that he can do whatever he wants and he’s done so wonderfully. But what would his clothes look like if he knew he had to hit certain sales figures? Pugh’s SS 2016 collection felt like a new direction for his brand where he seemed openly interested in high society and it was one of his best shows to date. I guarantee that anyone with Pugh’s talent level could be a commercial juggernaut; it’s just about honing that vision into something relatable.

Alber Elbaz:

According to WWD, Alber Elbaz has just exited Lanvin. At first, I was pretty taken aback. Elbaz, at this point, IS Lanvin: the Israeli designer is coming up on his 15th year at the label and has enjoyed immense success peddling an unabashed feminine aesthetic, revolutionizing the fashion sneaker (along with Lanvin menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver), and seeing his garments worn by Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, and Sofia Coppola. So why would he leave now? There was apparently tension between him and Lanvin majority shareholder Shaw Lin-Wang, but it appears that that tension has existed for a while. Us industry folks will most certainly speculate on this being a power move for Elbaz, seizing the opportunity that Raf left open at Dior. Though Raf did wonderfully at Dior, his pension for futurism and conceptual ideas assumedly put him at odds with the atelier and shareholders. That tension can yield some amazing collections but isn't a built-to-last situation. Elbaz was a frontrunner to step in for John Galliano at Dior in 2011. Perhaps Dior is looking at a top-shelf designer that is unabashed about his love for feminine classicism. Raf did well at re-defining Dior, but Elbaz should do excellent at defining Dior. Exciting fashion stuff folks!

Adam Lehrer is a writer, journalist, and art and fashion critic based in New York City. On top of being Autre’s fashion and art correspondent, he is also a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine. His unique interests in punk, hip hop, skateboarding and subculture have given him a distinctive, discerning eye and voice in the world of culture, et al. Oh, and he also loves The Sopranos. Follow him on Instagram: @adam102287

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[FASHION REVIEW] Paris Fashion Week Round-Up

October 9, 2015

This is now the third Fashion Week round-up intro I have had to write. Again, I will have to touch upon what makes this particular round unique to the industry and important for fashion. But honesty, do I actually need to make an argument concerning Paris and its total domination of conceptual fashion? OK, here’s an argument for you: Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yammamoto, Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela, Junya Wattanabe, Olivier Rousteing, and need I continue? A lot happens at Paris: some bad, some good, and some utterly transcendent. It’s too much to write about really. It’s the longest of the fashion weeks and it can be easy to forget about incredible shows mere days after they happened. Today as I am baffled yet excited over the announcement of Demna Gvasalia of Vetements being named creative director to Balenciaga while former Balenciaga godhead Nicolas Ghesquiere continues to alter the fabric of what we know to be Louis Vuitton, I almost forgot that Rick Owens put on the funniest and most conceptual collection of the week. So another season is over, and the buying begins. See you at the menswear shows.

ADAM LEHRER'S PICKS

Dries Van Noten

There have been times when Dries Van Noten has gone over my head. He is a highly conceptual and independent designer, but more than that, I don’t always feel connected to the clothes. But I was in Opening Ceremony last week (browsing, not buying) and came across a huge rack of Dries FW menswear stuff and all one can say is wow. His clothes have a physical touch that is vibrantly unique. You want to wear it, all of it, even the stuff that doesn’t in anyway line up with your own style.

So I keep the fact that I’m looking through a screen in mind when I watch Dries Van Noten’s SS 2016 collection come down the runway. Dries is a wonderfully referential designer, and this collection seemed like it was in the same ball field as Marc Jacobs’s New York stunner a couple weeks ago; a look back at the beauty, ugliness, glamour, and tragedy of old Hollywood.

When you think of “elegant fashion” you probably conjure up something glitzy or couture-ish, but Dries has totally created his own version of elegance. His color palette; often marked by shiny hues of green and bright magenta; always look slightly off allowing the garments that much more of a statement. Only Dries could send a huge printed satin dinner jacket right before a bright pink robe. The looks started to get more brutal after about 20 models culminating in a stunning black flared out skirt. And as chic as this collection is, Dries wants women to wear these garments. I can tell just by looking at them that they would probably feel very special to wear.

Rick Owens

Some might wonder when Rick Owens, if ever, will not use some kind of conceptual gesture within his runway shows. It has to be said, wondering what Rick will do has become one of the premiere talking points at Paris Fashion Week. Not only did the man completely invent an entire look (Health goth or grunge chic or street goth whatever the fuck you want to call it), but he also has a knack for generating enormous buzz in a way that feels smart, thoughtful, and funny. Rick Owens, the Dark Lord of High Fashion, is the funniest motherfucker in the whole game. For the last menswear show, garments revealed penises. The clothes in the SS 2016 womenswear show were, in some cases, models themselves. And somewhere backstage, Rick was grinning.

Rick had models’ legs hanging from the necks of models while other models cradled models like babies. Who knew there was this much you could do with a model? Rick was commenting on the strength of women (not a “strong woman"). Rick sees that women are able to shoulder the burden of others peoples’ pain as if it were their own, which reaches its metaphorical realization during childbirth. It felt like Rick was saying to his own mom, “Mom, I know things aren’t always perfect, but I love you. You are amazing.” By that stretch, the show was both funny AND poignant, and even made me want to call my own mom.

Some of the garments; cropped and grungy bomber jackets, black and white cloaks, asymmetrical tunics; felt like good old Rick. But as he’s done more of in recent seasons, there were some risks taken here with both color palette and shape. The introduction of orange and light pinks did not feel at all out of place within the collection, and transitioned nicely to the more brutal looks.

So, once again, Rick nails his show with equal parts theatrics and the fashion design chops to back it all up. Here’s to the last independent 100 million dollar man in fashion!

Vetements

I am amending this review upon learning that the leader of the enigmatic design collective that is Vetements, Demna Gvasalia, is taking over for Alexander Wang at Balenciaga. Wang’s Balenciaga show was one of his strongest, melding the coture looks and streetwear aesthetics that he often tried too hard to keep apart from one another. But it was clear that he never made the stamp on the house that we all hoped for when hearing of his appointment. With that, I thought that the Kering group would aim for a Balenciaga designer that had a firmer grip on tailoring and true luxury. Early thrown around names like Chitose Abe and Paco Rabanne creative director Julian Dossena both made perfect sense to me. Both designers have brilliant flourishes for elegant luxury, extreme silhouettes, and experimental fabrics. But Kering and Balenciaga instead go with another designer, Gvasalia, who is once again known for grungy takes on streetwear classics. But unlike Wang, Vetements has a design aesthetic that is truly unique and considered in both their shows and the clothes that they retail. They recycle fabrics and their garments are all instantly recognizable without overt branding. They have become street style favorites of cool kids everywhere. And most of all, people are excited, with even Cathy Horyn praising Gvasalia’s appointment at Balenciaga. Gvasalia worked with Martin Margiela for eight years, and that commitment to progressing design could bring Balenciaga their first push towards the future since Nicolas Ghesquiere left years ago.

And about the Vetements SS 2016 show, well, it kicked ass. I’ve been loving this brand for a while, with their gigantic bombers and sweatshirts that fall on women just so and their denim made of random pieces of recycled jeans. No brand on earth is nailing how style-minded people want to dress so well. Really want them to start doing menswear. But anyways…

Staged in a Chinese Restaurant (the FW 2015 was in a gay club, they are the best at finding random amazing places to stage shows) and with street and Instagram-casted models walking alongside professionals, the SS 2016 show was worthy of any and all hype. Always featuring dude and girl models wearing the clothes, The first model to near-run down the runway was none other than other weird dude designer Gosha Rubinchinsky wearing a standard open short sleeve black shirt, yellow t-shirt and cropped leather pants, a simple opening making way for more extreme but always wearable looks. Stand outs were lime green blazer and mini-skirt over a chopped up tank top worn by a beautiful long legged athletic girl, big blazers worn over argyle sweaters with sharp cut leather knee highs, and dudes wearing huge smocks. Gvasalia also introduced some new dresses that still spoke to his gallery girl following with everything looking just perfectly off. New hoodie designs were introduced as was a ‘Star Wars’ poster re-imagined as wide legged trousers. Perhaps the most Vetements-defining look was the final: a Chinese collar trench coat with top buttons buttoned, no shirt worn underneath, studded leather belt, cut off denim mini-skirt, and thigh-high black leather boots. Vetements is a brand for the creative people that are so successful they can wear whatever the fuck they want whenever they want: Kanye West, Lorde, etc.. The brand is intimately aware that the modern artist with Internet access is a little into everything: from the lowest forms of pop culture to the most head scratchingly avant-garde, from big t-shirts to couture. Balenciaga, bring it on.

Yang Li

The former Raf Simons apprentice Yang Li doesn’t get his due credit. Paris is saturated with talent, and perhaps his all black everything feels a bit overdone to some of the style set. But if the Swans-referencing SS 2016 presentation is any indication, few designers understand brutal fashion like Yang Li.

Dan Thawley’s take on the collection for Vogue was interesting; that Yang Li’s punk girl is returning from her years of rebellion to her bourgeoisie past and creating a new identity for herself. In that, you will find traditionally elegant garments cloaked in references to dark post-punk music and dingy clubs full of unsavory behavior. The girl can change her life, but those memories brand her and build her. In a flourish certainly reminiscent of his teacher Raf, Li introduced beautiful overcoats sewn with patches emblazoned with lyrics by the mighty Michael Gira of Swans (I actually really really want one). Asymmetric coats covered black dresses embellished with elongated skirts. Li stretches out minimalism and though he references some of the key conceptual designers of the last 10 years (Rick, Raf, Rei), it feels like he is really carving out a new identity in fashion.

Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji’s SS 2016 menswear collection saw the designer apply his own artwork to his garments, and his womenswear collection was soundtracked by Yohji’s music. At 72, the designer continues to find himself re-invigorated creatively. We are lucky to have him.

In some ways, Yohji went to his all-black roots with this collection, but the flourishes spoke to concepts for the future. The excess fabrics coming out in all directions in the dresses and the near tye-dye looking color splashes looked so wild that there was absolutely no way Yohji didn’t consider every angle. His experimentation with denim was like nothing I’ve ever seen using the fabric to embellish an avant-garde dress. The clothes looked quality and made for Bjork’s next runway excursion. The final dress deviated from the all-black concept in a deep blood red. This was Yohji’s statement of vitality. Leading avant-garde fashion through four decades now, he is here to stay.

Maison Margiela

Though John Galliano once again opted out of the bow for the SS 2016 collection in respect to Martin Margiela’s house codes, he certainly wasn’t hidden. Galliano’s stamps were all over this collection for Margiela feels all the better for it. His first couple collection saw him playing with Margiela ethos with his takes on the masks and such. But Galliano has always been a punk designer even when working at the biggest houses. In that, he’s not so out of place at Margiela as some editors speculated he might be. On the contrary, the house feels new again, but it’s still Margiela.

The “Lo-fi, sci-fi” titled collection saw Galliano introduce dozens of products to the Margiela arsenal including huge cumbersome looking bags (maybe not so successful) and some really interesting shoes marked by ankle bracelets and stockings brought over the shoes. The collection moved deftly through color, styling, and theme: geishas in Navy jackets and skirts, Margiela-recalling minimalist lime green and white all-over coats, guys in black chest-exposing dresses. Galliano is surely happy to be able to design anywhere, let alone at a house as coveted as Maison Margiela. With this collection, he looks poised to bring Margiela into the future.

Dior

You know I’m going to write about Raf Simons. Like Khaleesi (Emilia Clarke of ‘Game of Thrones’) said before the show, “I get to wear some beautiful costumes on the show, but on the street few things feel like wearing Dior). Raf redefined menswear luxury countless times, but now at Dior he seems to specifically tap into what exactly is luxury in womenswear. His clothes bring out the innate beauty of a woman without cloaking her in an abundance of fashion.

Raf is rightfully thought of as a conceptual designer, but at Dior he has relished the ability to take on commercial appeal as a concept. I love records like the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds,’ Janet Jackson’s ‘The Velvet Rope,’ or most recently the Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness.’ These are big and bold experimental records that apply adventurous sound techniques to music that never veers from pop sensibilities. I see Raf’s Dior in the same way. The SS 2016 looks were pretty breezy: black and white dresses, power suits, minimal pops of royal blue and red. Raf looks as comfortable in his position at Dior as he does wearing his Raf Simons X Sterling Ruby paint splattered shirt that he wore taking his bow.

Paco Rabanne

Honestly I knew nothing of Paco Rabanne creative director Julian Dossena until Olivier Zahm interviewed him for the most recent issue of Purple Fashion. From then, I was intrigued. Dossena worked at Balenciaga with Nicolas Ghesquiere until the latter quit four years ago. With him, went Dossena. He was quickly snatched up by the Puig Group to consult for Paco Rabanne to revive the futuristic image of the label that was cultivated by its namesake designer in the 1960s. He earned the creative director role eight months later and now it is safe to consider that futuristic image revived.

Paco Rabanne’s SS 2016 collection feels both retro-futuristic and regular futuristic with a line of sportswear that utilizes progressive fabrics as well as an overall vibe of attractive sleaziness. Pleather fabrications come in gold and look breathable and wearable. A tracksuit top looks on par with what menswear label Cottweiler does with its re-thinking of fabrics for the future. Sleeveless shirts carried prints with Native American motifs reminding the viewer that progression must first come in the form of thoughtfulness. Julian Dossena was being tossed around as a name to take over Balenciaga, but honestly, I’m so much more excited to see what else he has in store for the Paco Rabanne label.

Sacai

Chitose Abe, the other design name thrown around as a Balenciaga recruit, has an extremely popular aesthetic. Because of her brand’s recognizability, people seem to forget that she is also just an amazingly complex designer. Her clothes all reek of design. There isn’t one color or shape that isn’t 100 percent considered.

Her SS 2016 collection was filled to the brim with conceptual layers and interesting construction choices.

Abe has her touchstones with the vintage vibes and exotic looking blankets, but she seems to take it into new realms with each collection. Like her SS 2016 menswear collection, Abe referenced ‘80s LGBT friendly New York club Paradise Garage with the collection in the form of t-shirt prints. And like that club, the SS 2016 womenswear collection is full of chaos and nonsense. But within the chaos lies a well-planned and executed political statement.

Louis Vuitton

I know it might be early to say, but I am finding Nicolas Ghesquiére’s version of Louis Vuitton way more interesting than I ever found Marc Jacobs’s to be. Ghesquiére has always been an avant-garde designer, but he has managed to tailor his vision to brands with well-established house codes and re-create those codes over and over. Louis V is a travel brand, and Ghesquiére looks towards the future of traveling. The SS 2016 collection references ‘Tron’ and the sci-fi movies of Ghesquiére’s truth as an army of globetrotting cyberpunks marched down the runway. The clothes here were really crazy: opulent and luxurious in equal measures.

It’s hard to imagine anyone not wanting to buy pieces like the leather moto jacket printed with Lou Vuitton logos and American stripes. I also loved the color-blocked pieces. Ghesquiére speaks to a very specific customer: his own. Those who love the house of Vuitton will have to progress their tastes because Ghesquiére drastically moves Louis Vuitton forward. Fashion is barely able to catch its breath to keep up with this man’s imagination.

JULIANNA VEZZETTI'S PICKS:

Comme Des Garçons

The elegant birds of paradise flew at the Comme des Garçons SS16 showcase. The conceptual practice of adornment was living and breathing in this collection: the oversized ostrich laced collars and the rose-like crown hair designs. I believe the spectacle of it all actually helps one focus on the tailoring and design rather than overpower it. Rei Kawakubo forever draws the connections between fashion and art. The dresses here appear to hide certain aspects of the female frame and then radiate new life from the garment itself. The oversized button holes in the tweed peacoats give a fairytale ending to a seamless collection of wit and glamour.

Loewe

Ice queens gallivanted down the runway at JW Anderson’s second collection for Loewe. The SS 2016 collection featured drool-worthy trousers made from plastic to the embossed metallics and a silver high waisted pleated pant. The theory of less is more would be better categorized as giving more in the right places. JW Anderson has mastered that tact. The collection had an asymmetrical balance to each look; one mirror shard earring would be paired with black patent lizard embossed trouser and a tan suede jacket. Though I’m slightly appalled by the “put a bird on it” brooch but the rest of the accessories make up for it. I loved the shimmery long bracelets and the oversized Koi fish necklaces (I have vintage versions of the real thing!). I detected referencing to Japanese atelier; note the slight resemblance to Issey Miyake “Pleats Please” collection. The monogrammed pieces brought a sporty component to the collection without losing its “Posh Spice” elegant simplicity. J.W. Anderson can be a mood ring changing colors but stays true to his style DNA.

Céline

When we reminiscence about past Céline by Phoebe Philo collections, we often think about smooth lines marked by a casual chic but twisted by a pervasive surrealism. That is not what we think of when faced with the SS 2016 collection. In this collection there was a subliminal sexuality expressed with white sultry silks and black tailored lace. The woman is a housewife preparing her escape to the concrete jungle. The elegant ribbed knits with the high chalk tailored waists accompanied by safety pin necklaces appear safe but sharply drawn out. The palette of burnt oranges, pastel purples and army greens are complimentary to a woman that may be harboring a secret lover. The optical illusion within the disappearing waist in the finely tailored long blazer coat is design at its truest.

Haider Ackerman

I am caught inside the net of Haider Ackermann. The SS 2016 collection’s hidden detailing in the soft exposures of fishnets and candy colored hair veils leaves you feeling intertwined and in love. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the electric array of colors and textures. It was obtuse to his latter collections of dark blacks and greys. This would prove to be a challenging transition for some but not for Haider. Each drop-crotch trouser adds a new intermixture of color, sheen or a classic black. The SS 2016 look is very punk as well poetic and romantic. The long duster cover ups are luxurious silks and velvets that transcend the effortless quality of a Haider woman.

Miu Miu

Cohesive chaos is the body of work that Miu Miu presents eloquently time in and time out. I’m in love with the layered and tailored looks of tulle skirts and see thru apron dresses that populate the SS 2016 collection. The color story of rich purples and soft greens paired with a plaid laidback slack. The whimsical dark beauties race the runway like witches from Stepford. The oversized jackets and collars are a fatal sight; the collection of tobacco browns, colorful patterns and winter whites. The clash of Victorian silks with the strong dexterity of the leathers make an effortless collaboration. The eclectic style of art deco shapes and argyle patterns make a style reference to this timeless era. The Fred Perry-esque polo shirts make it a tangible line to collect and covet. The subtleties of the anklet lace ballet slippers and embellished boots w will be dancing in my head until the ever hopeful sale season.

Saint Laurent

The Saint Lauren SS 2016 collection felt a little different than previous ones. Hedi Slimane’s collection embodied maturity. Models wore long draping embodying a rigorous elegance. There were not many baby dolls here. This is a look I love and will wear with my Adidas campus sneakers. The women adorned crowns like princesses of the runway. They looked unfazed and too cool. The Wellington boots reminded me of a festival fairy with tousled hair smoking a cigarette while kissing your rocker beau. No one does leather like Hedi; it has become a staple piece for every season. This season’s leather jacket is slightly more slouchy and oversized than his classic perfecto. There is an honesty in the models that Hedi casts and the way he styles them. His ideal woman just woke up from a bender, had some morning sex and ran to another show. I adore the tenacity of it all. Bring on the texture and bring on the lush lifestyle.

Text by Adam Lehrer (Autre Fashion Editor) and Julianna Vezzetti

[FASHION REVIEW] Autre's Favorites from Milan Fashion Week

October 2, 2015

Oh, Italy. The land of luxury behemoths. Young fashion people scoff at Milan, but Milan is planting itself once more at the forefront of conceptual fashion. Versace and Prada will always be doing their thing. Damir Doma decided to leave the herd of Paris and create his architectural garments in Italy. Arthur Arbesser is injecting youth and idea-driven fashion into the city revitalizing Iceberg and launching his own brand. And, less we forget, Alessandro Michele is the hottest designer in fashion at Gucci. It feels like people are ready for Italian fashion again, and they certainly want Gucci to be relevant again. We’ve had so many years of “cool” and “arty” brands out of Paris and London that maybe the coolest thing to do right now is to pay heed to the luxury giants of Italy. It’s hip to be square, motherfuckers. – Adam Lehrer

Adam Lehrer's Picks

Gucci

And just like that, people give a shit about Gucci again. Italy has a new king, and his name is Alessandro Michele. It was only nine months ago that this guy was on the tip of no editor’s tongue and then three months and a women’s and a men’s collection later his influence has been felt radically at the house of Gucci and has reverberated throughout the fashion kingdom. The gender bending, fey dudes, and tomboy girls has been going on in fashion for a long time, but now as the standard at a house like Gucci it can be said to be the norm. Michele’s FW 2015 collection had a lot going on. It was as if Michele had bottled all these ideas up for years and was just waiting to be able to unleash them upon the world. The SS 2016 collection felt more singular. These clothes felt influenced by the ‘70s but at the same time they were insanely beautiful. There were fucking 66 looks in this collection and every piece has a different print! That is unbelievable in and of its self. I also like that Michele, while he does “bend” gender norms, still seems aware that a man’s body looks best in man’s clothes and ditto a women. The women’s looks were dresses and the men’s clothes were suits. I’m not going to say much about Michele other than that it speaks to the speed of the fashion system that a man can go from an accessories designer at a fading luxury house to one of the most important designers in the world at a hot luxury house in two seasons. Tom Ford’s takeover of Gucci was legendary. Michele’s will be radical.

Versace

Fuck it, I’m going for it: VERSACE VERSACE VERSACE VERSACE! Versace is eternal. Even at its most irrelevant, Versace reigns supreme. Case in point: the Versace SS 2016 show saw Donatella reaching out to the women of the world. The message was clear: be yourself and conquer, ladies!

I think people have this bias against Italian brands that they are stuffy, overly traditional, and classist. In some cases, this might be true. But Donatella Versace is a woman of the world. The soundtrack, entitled “Transition” by Violet and friends, called on for women to stop listening to the shit people say about them. Women can really run the world, and Donatella wants to help you.

Versace is also intimately connected to American hip-hop culture, dating back to Biggie Smalls up to today with Nicki Minaj and the previously quoted Migos. Donatella embraces this connection, and her runway was the most multi-cultural of Milan Fashion Week. There is something so beautifully unpretentious about Donatella Versace, whether it’s the unabashed sexiness of her shows, her embracing of celebrity culture, or her support of younger designers like JW Anderson and Anthony Vacarello. That lack of class warfare has allowed Versace to remain relevant in the modern fashion sphere.

Speaking of the unabashed sexiness of her clothes, it has to be said: the girls in the Versace SS 2016 show looked HOT. Sorry to let my more base boring straight male instincts take over, but it has to be said. All the garments, smashingly luxurious, were slitted everywhere: legs, torsos, hips, necklines, and breasts are all well displayed. Street influences met couture and it all looked great. May Donatella reign.

Bottega Veneta

On the menswear end of things, I love Bottega Veneta. Its suede Chelsea boots are literally my favorites boots in the world (made popular by Kanye’s grungy dressed down wearing of the $1200 statement boots, I’m rather poor so I have wear the Top Man suedette versions). Creative director Tomas Maier has been a little more on the nose when it comes to womenswear, however. Bottega Veneta’s whole thing, super luxurious versions of everyday staple pieces, doesn’t always translate to great womenswear shows. The SS 2016 show felt particularly realized then. Maier was inspired by the open country, and presented some dazzling outerwear pieces. The tracksuits with cropped pants didn’t look anything close to sporty, but certainly could be worn for sport. It was almost a rebellious look. Coming back to the city though, a beautiful pantsuit emblazoned with a camo print was eye grabbing and kept to the theme despite it certainly not being outerwear. Maier is really coming owning his role at Bottega Veneta.

Marni

Of all the Italian brands, Marni perhaps feels the most like one of the Paris-based brands in its embracing of contemporary art and harsher aesthetics. Despite that though, the collections offer tons of colors and print. Marni can be abstract and accessible in equal measures. The Sonic Youth of fashion labels? Sure, why not.

Consuelo Castiglioni’s SS 2016 saw an apron-like shape emerge in various forms on the runway: in tunics, in dresses, and wool structures. This collection had mystery to it. With all the shapes and layers draped upon the women, I couldn’t help but wonder what was underneath. It’s like when I was in middle school and girls started looking so painfully beautiful but also so utterly alien. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew that I wanted it.

The color palette of Marni SS 2016 is all over the place but cohesive. Hunter greens meld into browns and bright reds meld into blues. Marni still feels smaller than it should be, but maybe that is why it works. It’s a big Italian brand that holds its aura of the austere.

Damir Doma

Damir Doma, in his second Italian outing since moving his brand from Paris to Milan, was smart to leave the City of Lights. In Paris, he is just one of dozens of young designers taking on brutal, conceptual, abstract, and “arty” fashion. In Milan, however, he is practically the only one. He stands out in Italy.

Doma works closely with his manufacturers, and perhaps that is why he decided to move to Italy. In any case, his unique relationship to fabric stands out in the SS 2016 collection. In strictly monochromatic colors, Doma plays around with the proportions of pantsuits, cloaks, dresses and jackets. I particularly enjoyed the elegant dresses that were then slashed to shreds at the bottom. It reminded me of old Rei Kawakubo. Also, in the vein of Rick Owens, there was a kind of sexy unsexiness to this collection, with wide and loose garments falling upon the models in such a way that only hinted at eroticism.

Arthur Arbesser

If there has been a moment of, “This designer has arrived!” this season, ala with Alessandro Michele at Gucci last season, it has been Arthur Arbesser. Arbesser released his debut collection as creative director for knit brand Iceberg as well as his first line for his namesake brand. Both collections were different and great in their own ways.

Arbesser brought bohemian sensibilities to Iceberg, with pin stripe satin bomber jackets worn over cropped pants. The clothes were very casual but cool and effortless. No one has thought of Iceberg for some time, but with Arbesser designing the ready-to-wear and Olivier Zahm heading the campaigns, it could be the new heritage thing. Wait to see what Arbesser does with the knits for a winter collection.

Balthus inspired everything. Arthur Arbesser paid attention to that notion with his SS 2016 collection under his namesake brand, installing a giant Balthus cat in the middle of his floor. The girls walking in the show looked painfully young; both in their facial features and in their little school girl mini skirts and also the Nikes and pajamas. I so often hate this sort of pubescent fashion that I am even more impressed with Arbesser that I like this. He’s searching for a romance in youth and I have to say he’s found it. And those blue leather pieces, hot damn.

Julianna Vezzetti's Picks

Prada

Prada didn’t leave any angle un-textured or un-embellished; metaphysical in the truest sense of the word. The collection created layers of content that could make you hiccup. The SS 2016 collection is seemingly a working girl on acid. The elongated silhouettes allow dimensions to be layered with additional accessories and patterns. Muted metallic and electric lace bibs offer the idea that we are just visiting this planet. The tailored samurai skirt with matching blazer eludes a strict rhetoric lifestyle. The wispy hair and drop waist dresses spark ‘40 and ‘50s-era inspirations; like Tim Burton doing Casablanca. Color accents were strategically placed with socks, gloves and earrings proving leverage to draw the eye out to see it as a whole identity.

Fendi

Fendi SS 2016 opened with a fiery red to ambre shade of dusty salmon and cool white. All of the trimmings manifest a vision of a Swiss girl with a militant edge. The braiding of leather and fabric accent the large well pockets in the dresses giving a sense of utility. The garments also relish a fashion functionality with the “skort” like design and culotte wide legged pants. Belief in this theory allows you two ideas within one singular collection. Flowing printed prairie dresses and billowing sleeves give the feminine tone to the masculine tailored structures. If all is fair in love and war then what are we fighting for.

Jil Sander

Will you drink the Kool-Aid of the country cult leader draped in silks and sanctity? The Jil Sander SS 2016 collection offered tweed hats acting as a protection barrier to shield unwanted followers in your direction. The ominous sounds and designs paint a very surreal vision of religion. It has a fine tuned reference point that can almost be read as boring, but with ample contingency to the presentation. The repetition off the shoulder design highlighted a consistent design. The cable cord belts create a restrictive and controlled energy much like a cult counterpart. The layering aspect has been all over the runway but Rodolfo Paglialunga embodies a comfort and effortless perspective at Jil Sander. He recognizes the DNA Jil created to carry on the legacy of the brand, but has played down some of the brutality and harshness that Sander was beloved by many for using.

MSGM

The opening sounds of dance punk band Le Tigre at the MSGM SS 2016 were electric. The models matched the intensity of the boisterous music by charging full speed down the runway. The energy created by the caustic music and fast-moving models was emblematic of the color palette of MSGM’s SS 2016 collection’s shocking ultraviolet hues. The layering in this collection offered a femininity to what was a slightly Tomboy-ish presentation. I was struck with a sense of nostalgia for my coveted JNCOs and chain wallet I would rock in the late ‘90s. The pastel ruffles paired with wide-legged short trousers exuded hues of that bygone era. The bondage of punk was presented in a very pop art manner with flowing chain dresses and chest pieces. This grunge girl is a skater who also happens to play with textural design. Using billowing fabrics at the hips, she communicates the source of her power.

Text by Autre Fashion Editor Adam Lehrer and contributor Julianna Vezzetti

[FASHION REVIEW] The Best of London Fashion Week

September 25, 2015

London Fashion is Autre Fashion - if that makes any sense. Basically, the fashion coming out of London is on-brand with the message that we are trying to set forth at Autre: the contrast of high and low culture, freedom, expression, sexuality, and you know, being fucking weird. It’s been a pleasure to watch these young designers grow into their roles as international arbiters of taste. It’s not hard to imagine JW Anderson’s brand growing into Yves Saint Laurent levels of label endurance while he simultaneously re-brands Loewe into an ultra desirable fashion label. Simone Rocha is bringing a romance back to fancy clothing that has been missing for some time. KTZ is still killing it. Burberry puts on a very fun show for a juggernaut mega money brand. And the best part is, there is always a new crop of Central Saint Martin’s graduates looking to enter the fashion system and re-shape it in their visions.

So, yeah we love London. Obviously we get excited about Paris, too, but there is such a youthful vitality going on in London fashion at the moment made all the more exciting by its defiance of the city’s astronomical living rates and housing costs. These designers express their creativity in any way they can or they starve trying. Literally. So, I (Adam Lehrer, fashion editor at Autre Magazine) teamed up with new fashion correspondent Julianna Vezzetti to discuss the SS 2016 London collections.

Christopher Kane

I dress pretty minimally. I like tight jeans, big shirts/t-shirts/knits, boots or sneakers, and a cool coat. It’s easy, and it’s a look that I’ve committed to. It makes me feel good. Imagine then the esteem that I have for Christopher Kane as a designer that he makes me want to change my whole thing up and maximize my shit. He makes intricate patterns and colorful prints feel very effortless, and yes, luxurious.

Kane is the type of designer who is able to hold together ideas in continuity in both his men’s and women’s collections while keeping his menswear masculine and his womenswear feminine. The colorful near-painted on looking graphics could be the visual representation of walking on cloud 9, and Kane looks as confident in his concepts as he ever has, maybe more so. The show introduced some classy uses of bumblebee yellow, such as a dress underneath an over-sized grungy cardigan (boyfriend cardigan to be sure), before introducing some black and white monochrome looks, and then he manages to brilliantly fuse the yellow with the black. So many of Kane’s choices feel like they should be tacky, but they always look great.

Claire Barrow

There is so much innovative and genius fashion coming out of London right now. Even the biggest and most publicized young designers (JW Anderson, Marques Almeida, Simone Rocha) feel firmly anti-establishment in a way. That might be why a truly underground designer like Claire Barrow might not be getting the write-ups that she deserves. Her SS 2016 collection felt like a maturation of her palette.

Barrow is one of the few designers who also might not take issue with being described as an artist. She has gained fame for her dark and striking illustrations emblazoned onto beautifully made leathers and dresses. SS 2016 had illustrations in spades, but the clothes that they are printed on have grown more elevated. There are printed skin-tight leather dresses, jacquard power suits, shredded white knits, etc.. I think what is great about the prints is that they don’t look immediately “fashion,” they look very authentic. I think Barrow’s design philosophy is as fresh as anyone’s. She’s also unapologetically political, which I appreciate. SHOWstudio agrees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha_em0YFx54

KTZ

I’ve been finding designer Marjan Pejoski’s KTZ collections pretty dull for some time. His trek to New York for the FW 2015 collection possibly led to him re-grouping, because the KTZ SS 2016 collection, while not terribly original, is everything that people dig about KTZ. Pejoski, as always, references the club cultures that he loves, but there is some seriously apocalyptic urban warrior vibes here too. Maybe this is a bit of a hackneyed observation, but I can’t help but think that Pejoski was really really into Mad Max: Fury Road (that film is easily the fashion moment of 2015). Part of the collection feels like the warriors were left on Earth to fend for themselves: beige colored trenches and military-inspired tops with these sort of futuristic kneepad shoes. The other part of the collection looks like the haute people who were able to secure a spot on the space ship: mega expensive black leathers and linen with cyberpunk styling. Another film reference that comes to mind is Snowpiercer, where the rich live on the opulent front of the train and the poor are forced to starve in the back of the train. Sorry, I’m writing this late. Bear with me.

MM6 Maison Margiela

Every part of me wants to hate what John Galliano is doing at Margiela. Margiela is one of those brands that is hard to accept now that it is no longer designed by its namesake. It’s the same with something like Raf Simons. Who the fuck could design Raf Simons other than Raf Simons? But Galliano’s penchant towards extremism in couture has proved not only right for the house, but also has taken Margiela towards its future.

That injection of vitality that Galliano brought to Maison Margiela couture is perhaps even more on display in the brand’s offshoot, MM6 Maison Margiela. Showing both men’s and women’s looks, Galliano elevated gender-bending street looks to the umpteenth degree and did so with his ever-present sly sense of humor. Who else would send his first model down the runway in a baggy lime green t-shirt, arm-length silver gloves, with a bra over the t-shirt? Not many, and Galliano makes this stuff look good. The red, thigh-high socks were absolutely decadent, and the space dresses and coats were detailed just so.

It’s interesting that Galliano has actually adhered to the Margiela ethos, remaining relatively quiet in his public persona. Of course this could be a PR strategy so that he doesn’t say something disgusting again, but it is very exciting to see him take on this house and touch it up in his own image. It shows humbling. Martin might be nodding in approval at this one. Great show.

Thomas Tait

There are few garments more satisfying to wear than a pair of denim pants with tastefully applied knee slits. Thomas Tait appears to agree in his SS 2016 collection, which debuted some fantastic new jeans with the knees removed and replaced with a see-through grid structure of sorts. Details like these are what make Tait fun to watch. His clothes seem kind of boring at first, but as the models make their way down the runway your eyes find themselves glued to myriad design flourishes.

Tait won the first LVMH prize last year and had his brand injected with a cool $300,000 euros in capital. That capital looks like it’s paying off: the clothes in Thomas Tait SS 2016 look quality. The looks in the show define a powerful woman that will be noticed. Though the style of the clothing could be defined as masculine, these clothes aren’t at all masculine. They radiate a tough femininity, such as the elongated printed knit over a white shirt and orange and black trousers. However, Tait’s SS 2016 collection is not for women who demand attention, but rather for women who command presence. Tait is minimal only when he’s not.

JW Anderson

J.W. Anderson took the viewer to another planet of dream-like ambiguity. He playfully used lines and textures to convey an alternate universe. This female odyssey shined light on the right areas of the body to express. Using expressive lines to contour the neck and collarbone, the knotted ties on the ankles created a seal of design. This woman jumps from galaxy to galaxy while making a statement with Keith Harring-esque prints and linear lines. J.W. has the ability to create living illustrations with emphasis on modular inspiration.

Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou has the ability to dance between everyday beauty and nighttime glamour. Her products can be intimidating visually but are balanced by lightweight mobility. She opens up dialog about construction and the layers of content we use to articulate ourselves. The volume is seen in the tooled Spanish ruffles, ribbed sweaters, and quilted sweater dress paired with a snakeskin ankle boot to create an ensemble defined by context. The sequined pieces are subdued but casually tactful. The Kantranzou girl is beautiful but approachable. The enchantment between the client and the designer is an integral one that you observe in Mary’s work and the presentation.

Gareth Pugh

What’s black and white and red all over? Gareth Pugh’s SS 2016 presentation took eccentric glamour to task. The combination of fish scale sequins and leather corset dresses mark this collection as something of performance via dressing. These garments present a stage for you to make every moment monumental. The tone was set with the Leigh Bowery-esque masks with makeup design akin to the classic ‘80s film Liquid Sky. The swooping collars were accented by luxurious Himalayan sheepskin. Pay attention to the high necklines contrasting with deep necklines standing in as metaphor for the range of radical desire. There are secrets in this collection, but Gareth’s message is loud and right there for the interpreting. It’s a glamour circus and anyone fabulous enough is invited if one woman can perform her best sideshow.

Joseph

Uniformly speaking, Joseph has a way of creating a lasting impression without overtly yelling it out. The subtle tones of yellows, creams and whites allow the viewers to comfortably envision themselves in the clothes. The elongated silhouettes direct the eye to the right frame of focus: the subject. The knotting of the skirts and shirts create a point of reference and texture. The artful stripes feel very on-trend. The finely tailored dress shirts are minimalist with a direct agenda: everyday to evening. The subtle metallic colors communicate that this Joseph woman is mysterious and aware of herself. Smart accessories like white paper bag-like clutches and vinyl-wrapped belts speak to this woman being able to go from the office to the dojo and battle anything that comes into her protected sphere.

Simone Rocha

What a dream it would be to live in the world of Simone Rocha. Something like a Sci-Fi version of Alice in Wonderland. The clothing is ethereal and whimsical as if the Rocha girl is restrained in an alternate universe and all she has to ponder is freedom. The cross-body roping and textural accessories offer weight to this point. The fantasy of glitter tights and candy-coated strappy heels bring imagination to the Rocha girl. She has a casualty to her; the layering of dresses on top of pants allow her to be multi-faceted and dimensional. The billowing sleeves and skirts create a volume of intent and dexterity of the manufacturing. The earthly tones and playful floral patterns extenuate the aspiration for freedom. Truly a dream within a dream.

Text by Adam Lehrer and Julianna Vezzetti. Follow Autre on Instagram: @AUTREMAGAZINE

[FASHION REVIEW] New York Fashion Week Round Two: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

September 19, 2015

And so it continues. Save for a few massive outings from Alexander Wang and Givenchy and some surprisingly inventive collections from newcomers like Baja East, the first few days of NYFW are always a bit slower than the days to come. And then WHAM! It’s like your internet browser is getting assaulted Battlestar Galactica premiere style with the endless updates of amazing collections from the best fashion labels that the US has to offer. It feels like it’s been a particularly strong year, all things considered. Here is what I’ve liked. And by extension, what Autre has liked.

September 13

Edun

Edun designer Danielle Sherman is one of the few designers working that honestly can make the claim that she is applying an eco-conscious mindset to the highest levels of fashion. Other than Vivienne Westwood, there is nary a designer you could think of that is using environmental materials in collections that could be described as anything less than high fashion. It’s commendable, and the SS 2016 collection took cues from dance costumes of the Kuba Kingdom in Central Africa for an overall look that was bright and atmospheric.

The collection was minimal but rich. The models looked sexy as hell, as if the cuts of the garments revealed just the right amount of leg or neckline. Usually I find the models to be sexier in their day-to-day garb, as the collections are more about the designer’s statement than sexual stimulation. But even though the message was clear in Sherman’s collection, there was something assaultingly beautiful about the models’ looks in this show.

Nicopanda

Designer Nicola Formichetti is not afraid to bend reasonable expectations of taste and his Spring 2016 collection proved no different. What was different is that he imagined what his art-damaged junkie punks would dress like if these people ever decided to get married. That’s right, there was a serious bridal aspect to this collection.

Formichetti is best known as artistic director for Diesel. While I don’t know if there are any sales figures supporting the notion that Diesel is on the up and up, it has at least given Formichetti the capital to offer some wildly avant-garde fashions under his Nicopanda label. While his work at Diesel usually features hyper-masculine tattoo dudes, his Nicopanda label has hyper-masculine tattoo dudes wearing oversized bomber jackets over a white dress. You tell me which label he has more fun with.

Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony’s sample sales are the two times of the year that I can afford to get a taste of the REALLY good stuff (at the last one I managed a Komakino camo oversized bomber jacket marked down from $1500 to $350, bung bung!) so I can’t help but feel indebted to them as a brand. But in reality, Opening Ceremony is so much more than a fashion label. Everything around the brand has become something of a safe place for the New York City creative community. Carol Lim and Huberto Leon are patrons of ALL of the arts, from Hollywood big wigs like Spike Jonze and Jonah Hill, to down and dirty rock n’ roll bands, to the ballet dancers that walked in the show for the Spring 2016 collection. Their influence on New York fashion cannot be understated. The influence for this collection was Frank Lloyd Wright’s daughter, who was a modern dancer, with her dad designing much of the sets that she danced upon. As such, the clothes were elegant, in subtle shades of beige, black and white, but loose and moveable. Subtle choreography allowed the garments to breathe and move, and garment-wise alone it was one of their best collections in seasons. Though I have never been overly enamored with their work at Kenzo, I’m happy to have Carol and Humberto serve as New York creative ambassadors to the world. Their world is tight-knit, but inclusive. Everyone’s allowed in (and with price points that are fairly accessible in terms of high fashion, you don’t need to go broke to sign up). Long live Opening Ceremony.

Let down of the day: Public School

As a young guy working in a creative field living in New York with a taste for high fashion and hip-hop, I’m supposed to be totally enamored with Public School. But I don’t get it. Their menswear collections have always looked like a cleaned up version of Yohji (cleaned up, in my opinion, means boring) and they are definitely still finding their footing in womenswear. Their inspiration for the SS 2016 collection was travel, the dullest of all fashion archetypes. The guys have a crazy knack for tailoring, and one wonders maybe if they’d be better off applying their tactile skills to something that ditched the street influences for something even more inaccessible. I am curious to see what they do for DKNY.

September 14:

Phillip Lim

I’ve always thought that in the way that Public School misses the mark for me, Phillip Lim totally nails it every time. He’s now been offering his accessible high-low mash-up for 10 seasons, and to celebrate his SS 2016 collection was presented with mounds and mounds of dirt dumped all over the runway. That dirt was, in fact, created by months of food compost thrown away by the 3.1 team.

The collection wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was totally Phillip Lim. Lim was pretty early on in the whole masculine attire re-conceptualized in a sexy, girlish way. These aren’t tomboyish clothes, even if a guy wouldn’t look particularly out of the ordinary wearing some of them. Sporty materials with floral prints, short shorts, baggy biker jackets, you know the drill. Good stuff.

Jeremy Scott

Man, I feel like I’m just rifling off the designers that one would expect me to rifle off, and I almost didn’t include Jeremy Scott because of this. I mean, between the documentary he has coming out, designing Katy Perry’s Superbowl looks (that surprisingly didn’t take second stage to her ever-famous bust), creative directing the ridiculous VMAs, and Moschino, he is everywhere. But moments like these are for a reason, generally, and Scott has become master of his own B-movie drenched, low culture-infused universe. His SS 2016 collection references Doo-Wop singers from the 1960s up from the extravagantly bright printed dresses to the Bee-Hive hairdos, and the men’s looks looked like a Saved by the Bell high school formal. These clothes will sell, and Jeremy will reign as king.

Can’t tell whether it’s good bad or bad good: Thom Browne

Thom Browne’s SS 2016 menswear collection shown in Paris caught a lot of flack for co-opting oriental culture without using enough Asian models. I can’t tell if there is a similar lack of over-sight going on in his SS 2016 womenswear collection. The models looked freakish, to be sure, with their black lipstick pursed into a small circle in the middle of their faces and hair pulled into demon horns sticking straight to the sky, but the clothes were interesting. As usual, there were a lot of suits, but there was crazy patchwork going on and wild prints. Browne has always made formalwear subversive and, yes, cool. He’s a fucking genius, yes. I just never know what to make of that genius. Maybe that’s the point.

September 15

Eckhaus Latta

Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta, of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, are a fashion label seemingly tailor made for us at Autre. Along with kindred brands like Gypsy Sport, Vejas, and a juggernaut like Hood By Air, Eckhaus Latta is churning out fashion that serves as a kind of conceptual art project just as much as it does a clothing manufacture. As a reaction to the fashion vanguard, or maybe not, there was no historical context to this collection. There was only an emotion: horniness.

These clothes, while minimal and chic, were racy. Elbows, thighs, knees, hips and other skin areas were properly displayed. And with Autre friends like Alexandra Marzella, Dev Hynes, Bjaarne Melgaard, and Julianna Huxtable, walking in the show, this was a sure thing to make the list. We love this brand.

Rodarte

Kate and Laura Mulleavy put on their best Rodarte show in seasons for the brand’s 2016 collection, equally informed by Emily Dickinson's poetry and Electric Light Orchestra's prog pop cheese (disclaimer, I love ELO).

The clothes looked really spectacular, to the point where they are hard to write about. But basically, if I saw a woman dressed like the models in this show, I’d be in love with her. Glam rock sparkles set to neon light, the cheesiness of the materials lent itself to an elevated romance. Rodarte is a master at taking things that could be cheesy, and yet comes off as not cheesy at all. Miguel was at the show, and his style could be read as Rodarte man if it existed: psychedelically conceptualized effortlessness.

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[FASHION REVIEW] New York Fashion Week Round Up Part One: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

September 16, 2015

Here are some collections that I deem to be excellent, and a couple that I found to be quite a letdown, from the first four days of New York Fashion Week.

Wednesday, September 9

VFiles

VFiles has been influential in retailing exciting young designers. There have been numerous cases of it carrying brands that I personally would never have heard of otherwise. This year, the retailer featured five young new designers, each offering an entirely different design aesthetic: the Beijing born newly graduated Feng Chen Wang, the London-Based David Ferreira, Design duo Namilia, Japanese Central Saint Martins and Parson-educated Kozabura Akasaka, and New York-based trio Moses Gauntlett Cheng.

Wang’s collection was birthed from her experience learning of her father’s cancer diagnosis. She sought to find the beauty in the ugliness of the deterioration of the human being, and the designs in her section of show recall the strength found within human organs.

Of the five designers, it feels as if Akasaka might be the big seller out of all of them. He has a knack for menswear and womenswear, and though his silhouettes are avant-garde, they also have a real slickness to them. His Japanese heritage is a huge part of the collection, as if filtering his Yohji influences into his country’s obsession with high quality denim.

Moses Gauntlett Cheng is the hometown favorites. I actually met 1/3 of the trio at that Alexandra Marzella performance that I wrote about here, but had no idea that I was speaking to a talented new fashion designer. In any case, the trio fearlessly plays with gender in a manner that is not played out, and is neither masculine nor feminine.

September 10

Creatures of the Wind

The idea that the most stylish ladies out there wear a little bit of everything to accentuate their own uniqueness is firmly implanted in the design aesthetic of Creatures of the Wind’s design duo Christopher Peters and Shane Gabier. The brand’s SS 2016 collection felt like a lineup of different cool girls throwing together various COTW pieces to meet their respective moods. There were a few motifs that showed up throughout the collection in a variety of different styles; blue floral prints, studded black satin, army jackets, and more. Gabier and Peters don’t seem interested in creating a tribe, instead they offer beautifully made garments that any fashion conscious girl could make work for her. The brand’s identity feels inclusive and refreshing.

Adam Selman

Adam Selman’s approach to high fashion feels simultaneously kitschy AND subversive, a description that may have been bestowed upon a young Jeremy Scott all those seasons ago. I don’t mean to compare the two designers, as it would be unfair to label Selman anything akin to derivative. He’s a monumental talent, and his work is everything that is great about a New York designer: unstuffy, loosely conceptual, and wearable.

His inspiration for this SS ‘16 collection was Taylor Camp, a ‘60s and ‘70s nudist colony established outside the beachfront property of Howard Taylor (brother of Elizabeth). In that, the clothes read like the garments that a nudist lady might wear in the situations that they were forced to put clothes on. Much of the collection is all black and all white, with some of the pieces featuring some well-placed sun-soaked prints. The collection was also influenced by American designer Todd Oldham, who’s own unpretentious approach from fashion to design makes him something of a Selman spiritual forebear.

September 11

Giulieta

One of the few shows that I was allowed access to was Giulieta, which is traditionally elegant, but in a good way. Designer Sofia Sizzi used a futuristic vision of tennis as her springboard. The collection begs the question, “What will hautey rich country club gals be dressed like when we’ve colonized Mars?” A soft and cerebral beauty permeated the collection.

Givenchy

Easily the biggest show of this year’s NYFW calendar: Kanye, Kim, Julia Roberts, Debbie Harry, Liv Tyler and more all came out to see Ricardo Tisci debut a new Givenchy collection for the first time ever in New York. The whole thing did feel very much like a gift to New York, an ode to its majesty on the day commemorating its tragedy, even if it was covert marketing for the new Givenchy store. The event was held outside the pier in Tribeca and art directed by Marina Abramovic. Tisci hardly needs to add more beauty to his shows, his clothes do the trick, but Abramovic’s inclusion of women climbing ladders, Serbian folk singers, cellists, grand pianos and even fucking llamas all made for the darkly surrealist glamour that has rightfully placed Tisci as one of the world’s leading fashion designers.

Between this show, and his recent SS 2016 menswear show in Paris, it feels like Tisci might be more on top of his game than he ever has been. Women draped in black and white satin with razor sharp tailoring lent gothic class to the eerie environment. Some have issues with men’s looks in women’s shows, but with Tisci it always feels right. The men’s look complimented the women’s, and the jet black suiting made me want to grow up, start pulling in $500K a year, and alter my wardrobe to rightfully take my place amongst the illuminati.

Saturday, September 12

Baja East

Scott Studenberg and John Targon entered the “loose luxury” trade in 2012 with their brand Baja East, and their SS 2016 collection was their best to date. This show took cues from ‘90s rave, and strobe light-akin shades of red, blue, and green were featured on ultra soft tunics and dresses. Men walked in the show too, but Studenberg and Targon are aware that their business is coming from women. It’s hard to imagine most men, especially other boring straight ones, getting in to clothes like this. But it’s a nice sentiment.

Alexander Wang

While other designers might be crushed after getting shit-canned from a brand like Balenciaga, the brand Alexander Wang is so beloved amongst its tribe that it may have even helped the designer. After all, Alexander Wang has always been more a high street than a high fashion brand, with Lykke Li saying it best, “His clothes seem made for that girl that you see and can’t help but notice how cool her shoes are, or how cool her jacket is.”

Alexander Wang has always been for confident casual New York cool types. That vibe felt on-point from the first look of a tank top and wide striped trousers. Wang also applied cool details like black fringe to cool girl staples like army jackets. The men’s looks, the first ever in an Alexander Wang show, were great too, particularly a long plaid shirt jacket with neoprene front pockets. The show ended with a video collage of the many successes of Alexander these last 10 years; let’s hope for many more.

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The Other Half of the Antwerp 6: Belgium’s Unsung Fashion Heroes

August 31, 2015

When it comes to Fashion, the Belgians will continue to be a driving, influential force. With a round of fashion weeks upon us in September, there will undoubtedly be a few references to these sartorial geniuses from this unlikely creatively kinetic country. Sure, the Martin Margiela and Raf Simons stars burn the brightest – especially at retrospectives like the one that is on view now at the Bozar Center For Fine Arts in Brussels – but the credit for laying the first fashion stakes belongs to a band of misfit outsiders known as the Antwerp 6. Here, our fashion editor-at-large, Adam Lehrer, explores the life and works of the more unknown members of this fashion collective that may not be household names, but are just as influential and still worth talking about.

I get really obsessed with radical art collectives and movements. There is something so alluring about a group of likeminded weirdoes banding together to express a uniform idea and fucking up everybody’s pre-conceived notions about what art or music or cinema should be. I can rifle off some of said movements that have all held massive spaces in my Internet search history: the Fluxus movement of the 1960s, Warhol’s factory, Albert Ayler and the early ESP-Disk Free Jazz artists, late ‘70s Los Angeles Punk Rock, French New Wave Cinema, the literary Brat Pack, early New York graffiti, late 1970s New York No Wave, Motown Records, Wu Tang Clan, Lars Von Trier and Dogme95, and so much more. I love learning who the players were, and then seeing where the players ended up. It seems like in all of these movements, some of the people were able to translate their talents and creativity into massive successes, while others were never able to re-create their glory days of being in a badass art collective and waving big ol’ middle fingers to the system. Perhaps this is why in all my interest in fashion, I have never been able to live down my utter fascination with the Antwerp 6.

The Antwerp 6: Walter Van Bierendonck, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee (Martin Margiela was not an official member, despite common belief). Six design students that all attended Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Art, employed an avant-garde approach to fashion, and literally put Antwerp on the map as a fashion city to respect. The other influential fashion designer from Antwerp, Raf Simons, used a drapey black hoodie in his A/W 2001 ‘Riot’ collection emblazoned with the word “Antwerp” and a graphic depicting the Antwerp 6’s members in all of their youthful glory. The sweatshirt looks like a punk rock hoodie you could get on St. Mark’s and that is the point: the Antwerp 6 was one of the first group of fashion designers looking towards the more down-trodden sub-cultures (Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, and Issey Miyake were also doing this in Japan) to create high fashion. And they just happened to all be friends hanging out, doing drugs (probably, anyways, right?), listening to music, and borrowing clothes from one another.

But, as these things often turn out, only half of the Antwerp 6 achieved international success. Demeulemeester, Van Noten, and Van Bierendonck all translated their visions into massive brands, and the latter two are still designing their brands to this day. Does that mean they were more talented than their compatriots? Maybe, but I don’t think so. Let the rest of this piece be an ode to the ever-unsung talents of the forgotten members of the Antwerp 6: Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee.

Marina Yee showed her first collection in London in 1986 under the brand Marie five years after she graduated from university. Yee often re-designed and structured clothes that she found in flea markets, emphasizing a worry that she held concerning the wastefulness of fashion. Interestingly enough, it is Vivienne Westwood that we most often associate with the eco-conscious high fashion, but it was Yee who expressed concern with such issues as far back as the 1980s, when Westwood was still designing with Malcolm McLaren. Her visibility in fashion in the ‘90s was scarce; she designed with the Belgian brand Lena Lena and with her old friend Bikkembergs. She had a comeback of sorts in 1999 when she participated in the 400 Anniversary Antoon Van Dyck celebrations curating a selection of Van Dyck’s emphasizing fashion. In 1995, Yee briefly launched her MY label and showed 30 pieces at a private event in Paris, again recycling thrift materials to be fashioned into utterly elegant fashion. Yee’s talents are monumental, and her lack of success in comparison with some of her friends may have to do with her resistance to the fashion system. Countless designers now are placing importance on dismantling the fast fashion system. Hiroki Nakamura of the VISVIM label designs hoping people will wear his clothing for a lifetime. Stella McCartney is committed to green fashion. And of course, Westwood has been lauded for her commitment to fashion that has a positive impact. Yee’s output was small, but her impact was massive. In fact, Marina Yee is set to release a new line of scented candles and perfumes in the coming month.

The Flemish Dirk Van Saene also avoided the fashion system. Though he participated in a group show in 1987 with his five friends, he mainly designed clothes out his small Antwerp boutique Beauties and Heroes. Van Saene’s lack of international recognition can be traced to two arguments. For one, Van Saene wasn’t interested in any one particular aesthetic that his brand could be recognized by. He employs the mindset of an artist: he makes whatever he wants to make. That attitude is admirable, but not exactly business-minded. The other is that he too also avoids the fashion system, and in some ways is downright disdainful of the fashion industry: “ I think there's currently nothing interesting in fashion. It is so boring. The designers never tire of repeating the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. So what? We've already seen everything. I can think of no designer collection, which I really like. And the worst thing is the press, which comes from a designer the next, as long as there is a bag for free.” Van Saene has started creating pottery, and a career as an artist might suit his incendiary talents more than fashion design.

Dirk Bikkembergs might be the most internationally recognizable name out of the “other members” of the Antwerp 6, but his career path is idiosyncratic to say the least. In fact, some people may not realize but his garments are still being produced and sold every day (his website is having a huge sale right now). Awarded the Golden Spindle award in 1985, Bikkembergs launched a shoe line in 1987 and a menswear line launched in 1988. When looking back at those old collections, it is immediately notable that he already was elevating sportswear to luxury long before Ricardo Tisci emblazoned a Givenchy t-shirt with a Rottweiler. But unlike his compatriots, Bikkembergs moved away from the brutal and deconstructed fashions that Antwerp was becoming famous for with the successes of people like Demeulemeester and especially, Martin Margiela. He moved towards soccer, Bikkembergs fascination with sports, and soccer in particular, made him extremely successful financially, but most likely hurt his artistic credibility. But that didn’t seem to matter to him. Bikkembergs continued to use professional football players as menswear models. In 2000, he launched Bikkembergs Sport and used a footballer as a logo. He even became the Sole Sponsor of Inter Milan, an amateur football club. Not exactly highbrow, I know. But one has to admire the strong “don’t give a fuck” attitude of an art school educated fashion designer turning around and designing soccer clothes. When your friends are selling shredded knit sweaters to be retailed at $800, it’s pretty punk to sell a hoodie with a soccer graphic for a quarter of that. I like to think Bikkembergs has fun taking the piss out of his art minded classmates.

So if you have to split the Antwerp 6 into two camps, perhaps you do so by looking at the fact that Van Bierendonck, Demeulemeester, and Van Noten all consciously decided to redefine the fashion system and progress the idea of fashion. But nevertheless, they all decided to exist within the fashion system. Yee, Bikkembergs, and Van Saene all did whatever the hell they wanted. The Antwerp 6 was a rebel collective, but they weren’t all fashion rebels.

Necessary reading: 6+ Antwerp Fashion (maybe the most comprehensive monograph on the Antwerp 6) and Belgian Fashion Design (a good history lesson). And make sure to see The Belgians: An Unexpected Fashion Story on view now until September 15, @ Bozar Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

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[FASHION REVIEW] Siki Im Spring 2016 Collection Is A Celebration of Sub-Culture

July 18, 2015

John Varvatos technically closed NYFWM. But for me, it all ended with Siki Im. At its best, fashion tells stories. Of the designer who created it. Of the sub-cultures that inspired it. Of music. Of art. In 15 minutes, Siki distilled everything that I love about fashion into one seamless collection.

Siki Im has a lot of interests. He collects Jordan sneakers. He appreciates Black Metal and is an avid Hip-Hop fan. He loves literature. But as a former architect, the common thread that ties together all of Siki’s cultural influences appears to be structure. He is passionately obsessed with how things are created, whether they are objects or simply, emotions. Siki has serious design pedigrees, having worked under Karl Lagerfeld and as head designer at Helmut Lang after its namesake designer left the brand to pursue an art career. But with his own brands, Siki aims for the personal, and his presentations are fueled by emotional touchstones. One thing that had been missing from Men’s Fashion Week in New York was showmanship. As one attendee at the show put it, “This was the only collection that felt like there was anything at stake.” It’s true, it feels as if Siki Im is deadly close to entering the big leagues of menswear designers: Rick, Raf, Wang, Kim Jones. These guys do not seem to exist in a world that far removed from Siki Im anymore.

At NYFWM, Siki Im presented the Spring Summer 2016 collections for both his high-end Siki Im line and his more street-ready Den Im brand. He presented the collections together, blending the higher end and street looks into a cohesive street army. The collection, entitled “Youth Museum,” explored Siki’s most prevalent passion: New York City. Growing up as a skateboarder in Germany, Siki longed for the day that he too would shred the streets of the Big Apple. When he got here, however, the city wasn’t quite what he imagined it would be. Or was it?

The show, the most star-studded of any I attended this week, started when a man (Sam Wheeler) entered the middle of the catwalk with an electric guitar. He started welding Dead Man-era Neil Young-like riffs, full of tremolo and power. Then, the Opera singer Anthony Ross Costanzo took the stage. He put the microphone to his lips, and in an earth-shattering operatic falsetto, he began singing the opening line to LCD Soundsystem’s song, ‘New York, You’re Bringing Me Down.”

The message was clear: New York is different, but we are here, god damn it.

As a bass thudding soundtrack, composed by Casey Mullen and helmed by Sam Wheeler kicked in, the looks came down the runway. One of the wonderful things about Siki’s garments is that they are in many ways classic utilitarian work wear, but with flourishes and details Siki is able to turn a sweatshirt into a garment that can be work into an infinite number of presentations. Chalk it up to his talent for structure or his belief in individuality, but in Siki Clothes you can really wear them however you want. A Den Im bomber jacket came with a detachable skirt. A “Jedi poncho” was a call back to Siki’s youth, and most likely, your youth. We all love Star Wars.

Prints from German artist Frank Thiel called back to Siki’s home in Germany. Jeweler Chris Habana embellished the looks with broaches and charms that will be available when the collection drops next year. Siki also amped up the looks with futuristic sunglasses that he designed in conjunction with Gentle Monster Eyewear. With sneaker brand No. 288, Siki designed simple and sleek slip-on sneakers that could be worn at the beach or in space.

As the finale reigned in, Sonic Youth’s ‘100 Percent’ blared from the speakers. The collection was a celebration of New York and of Siki’s life. This was a supremely personal collection, but at the same time it felt remarkably resonant and life affirming. I got into fashion through art and music. Or perhaps, it was just by living in New York that fashion was inevitable. Siki Im’s SS ’16 presentation of his Siki Im and Den Im lines was a celebration of sub-culture and its resilience in the face of gentrification, industry, and commerce. Yes, New York culture has been chewed up and spit out many times over. But it’s still here, and we are still here.

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[FASHION REVIEW] Edmund Ooi's Spring Summer 2016 Show Is So Gender Bending It Borders On Sexless

July 18, 2015

If gender-bending is truly the thing in men’s fashion right now, than Edmund Ooi is winning. Or, maybe not. Ooi’s aesthetic is almost extra-gender, bordering on sexless. The models that came down his runway at his Spring Summer 2016 show at NYFWM looked something like over-grown babies in outer space, or male fetish hookers in Battlestar Galactica’s Red Light District. If Gaius Baltar was Bi, maybe these are the dudes he’d be going for?

Edmund Ooi is an extremely experimental designer, even by today’s standards. He seems to have little to no care for making clothes that will sell, and that makes his shows nothing less than thrilling. The Maylasia-born designer is a graduate of the storied Royal Academy of Fine Art. That is the same school that educated the legendary (and my personal favorite all-time designer) Martin Margiela as well as the Antwerp Six: Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Bierendock, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee, and Dirk Bikkembergs. These designers were utterly boundary pushing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the first three have been able to build massive brands that have persisted to this day. Is Edmund Ooi even interested in building a brand that will last? If the Antwerp Six was like post-punk, filtering avant-garde influences into ultimately digestible rock and pop songs, Ooi is almost full-on noise. It’s very hard to imagine even the most ostentatious of dressers wanting to wear this stuff, and even harder to imagine myself and other boring guys adorned in diaper-looking shorts and cut-off vests.

But Ooi’s sheer moxie and lack of filter is endearing. He’s been building his brand slowly and picking up design accolades as he goes along. He won ‘Best Avant-Garde Designer’ at age 19 after graduating from Kuala Lumpur. He worked with Thierry Mugler in Paris. He was handpicked by Giorgio Armani to show at Armani Teatro at Milan Fashion Week in January. And now, New York X, a creative organization that supports emerging talent all over the globe, has brought Edmund over to New York to show his Spring-Summer 2016 collection.

The space, a huge room where a ladder set below a podium that leads to a catwalk floor separated with white Adirondack architectural sculptures, looked precise and futuristic. Ambient music lulled through the speakers as people took their seats. And once the bass-throbbing house music kicked in, it all made sense.

Edmund Ooi claims to want to infuse sportswear with a flamboyant attitude. But, “flamboyant” really doesn’t do this collection justice. The first model came down the stairs wrapped in what looked like white sheets and a diaper (white bandeau, belt, and underwear) and the models that followed weren’t covering much up either.

Ooi researched the technical materials that are used in spacesuits for this collection. That, combined with his overtly feminine aesthetic, made for a collection full of sly winking humor. These clothes looked like they could have been costumes from the set of a gay porn set in outer space. Dare I say, Deep Space 69?

There were still quite a few pieces that looked righteously cool, however. A blazer with architecturally patterned black, grey, and red stripes would surely be perfect for driving a convertible in the streets of Florence. A beige jacket with cream-colored sleeves would also seamlessly fit into the wardrobe of a less-adventurous dresser.

Edmund Ooi is sure to make a name for himself in the extremity of his presentations. He does however need to focus more on making clothes that men, or women, will actually wear. Raf Simons is a name that often comes up in comparison with Edmund. Like Ooi is doing now, Raf made a name for himself with his emotionally charged and art leaning shows. But Raf also became a retail giant because creative guys; rappers, rockers, painters, straights, gays, DJs, etc, all wanted the look that he was creating. Ooi’s vision is there, but he needs to channel it just a bit narrower to turn his label into a brand.

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[FASHION REVIEW] Capsule S/S 16: A Snapshot of Modern Menswear

July 17, 2015

New York designers occasionally feel safer than those from Europe. With numerous exceptions, the collections that come out of here just feel a little less “artsy,” for lack of a better term. I don’t know why that is. Maybe, that despite the city’s storied history with avant-garde expression, it is in many ways a jeans and t-shirts kind of city when it comes to the dudes.

There were quite a few collections that transcended that notion this week. Greg Lauren (nephew of Ralph) presented a massive and striking collection of vintage Americana deconstructed to tatters. Lauren, a former painter, seems to be aware of the fact that beauty can sometimes be constructed out of harsh and ugly beginnings. Russian designer Alexandre Plokhov (formerly of the Cloak label and current creative director of Helmut Lang) presented his first menswear collection in a few seasons and continued his goth, post-apocalyptic aesthetic, but surprised with some splashes of primary colors. Though the collection was nothing out of the ordinary for him, the clothes would certainly appeal to an out of the ordinary guy.

But, the clothes that I felt had the most personal identity and would even venture to wear largely came out of Capsule S/S 16: A Snapshot of Modern Menswear presentation. Seven upcoming labels from around the globe presented five looks per brand, and made the case that the most creativity in menswear design is being conceptualized outside of New York.

Matthew Miller

London-based designer Matthew Miller was probably the best known of all the labels showing at this presentation, and from my standpoint, easily the best. Having shown his collection at LCM since 2013, Miller is part of a young generation of mind-blowing menswear designers: JW Anderson, Craig Green, Nasir Mazhar, and more. On first glance, his clothes look like classic “cool guy standing on a street corner,” infused with a punk-inspired rebellious spirit. One standout piece was a leather moto jacket that read “Born to Fail” that was draped over a mega-distressed oversized navy tee-shirt. Most guys that are interested in post-punk and horror films would wear this stuff in a second. But when you look closer, there is a real poetry to the craft of what Miller does. The clothes are EXPERTLY made, and in five looks Miller tells a story. Miller is one of the most exciting young designers out there. This collection is actually available for purchase on his website.

CMMN SWDN

Conceptualized by designers and partners Saif Bakir and Emma Hedlund, CMMN SWDN makes highly desirable, street-ready menswear. But the clothes are infused with a slightly leftfield and odd sensibility, with skinny trousers cropped far above Thom Browne’s notorious ankle exposure, and a crisp dress shirt freed of its sleeves and infused with an interesting neon print. The clothes are perfect for a guy looking to dress a little different, but not fully ready to bend his gender quite yet (don’t worry, I’m right there with you).

Blackfist

Bradley Soileau launched Blackfist as a fashion/art/music project out of Los Angeles last year. In only his second collection, Soileau looks like he’s onto something. He has said that his inspiration for these garments was the 1980s thrash metal scene in Los Angeles and also the Wes Craven film The Toxic Avenger, and you can see that in the models with cholo tattoos and the oversized cuts. But some of the slightly wild olive greens made me think of an army soldier tripping on acid to pass the time between combat. Soileau also introduced his take on Vans slip-ons, emblazoned with the collection’s message, “Hurts So Good.”

CAMO

Italian designer Stefao Ughetti launched CAMO in 2007 to modernize menswear while paying homage to the traditional workshops in Italy. The look is sharp and minimal. Some pieces look like hospital scrubs elevated by silky and luxurious fabrics. CAMO wasn’t the most impressive lineup of garments that I saw, but its sneakers were fantastic. They look like a less detailed version of the “mocca-sneakers” created by Hiroki Nakamura for his brand Visvim, but much more sport-ready.

Baartmans and Siegel

The London-based design duo and graduates of the London College of Fashion, Wouter and Amber, have contributed talents to some major European fashion houses, but devised the Baartmans and Siegel label as a way to fabricate clothing using the most luxurious of fabrics while maintaining and utterly wearable appeal. Because of this, the design is only half the fact, and the label really makes its name on its materials. That being said, pieces like the niclas work shirt and the alton reversible car coat look like they would be spectacular to wear.

Second/Layer

The influence of legendary Japanese conceptual designers like Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo can be felt around the world, and now specifically in Los Angeles in this decidedly radical looking collection from LA-based brand Second/Layer. Established by partners A. Franco, Joshua Willis, and Jacob Willis in 2012, Second/Layer filters the California avant-garde through a non-gender specific clothing line. People too often forget that Los Angeles is just as important to the history of art as New York or London (um, The Germs, Ed Ruscha, freaking Hollywood?) and Maiden Noir filters a meeting of high and low through a Californian lens. Models with Dogtown and Z Boys hair wore a mostly black and white collection that could fit in any wardrobe.

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[FASHION REVIEW] Asaf Ganot's Spring Summer 2016 Collection Is Perhaps A Bit Too Oiled Up

July 16, 2015

As you are probably aware, much of New York Fashion Week: Men’s has already gone on before any of these designers let this eager young writer enter a show. Some of these shows (Robert Geller, John Elliot + Co., Thom Browne, the great N. Hoolywood) I would very much have liked to have seen. Others I remain ambivalent towards.

There seems to be an underlying notion that the New York collections, for men and women, feel a little lightweight compared to those in London, Milan, and of course, Paris. That notion may be true, at least when it comes to designers that get a bit of publicity. Some of the best American menswear designers, from Alexander Wang up to Ralph Lauren, opted to show their SS 2016 collections in other countries. And all together, New York menswear design does feel a bit safe in comparison with its London and Paris counterparts.

At these New York collections, there seems to be three separate camps. One camp of designers excels in clothes that are tailor-made to be worn by the brands’ specific customers. Public School, who yesterday showed their collection as a police lineup, is one such brand. They have honed in on a sharp dressing but streetwise guy, with lots of black and expertly tailored jogger pants. Other designers, like Robert Geller who showed yesterday, or Patrik Ervell who is showing later this week, are showing easy-to-wear clothing but presented through a conceptual lens. Thom Browne is also a designer with big ideas and even bigger sales.

But at New York this year, there are also designers showing menswear collections that have very little name recognition. These are the shows that young journalists will be let into, and these might be the shows that define what New York Fashion Week: Men’s could turn into. Just as the London menswear shows have highlighted an entire generation of forward-thinking designers, maybe New York Men’s Fashion Week will introduce the world to a whole world of menswear designers looking to bend and break rules. Are the next J.W. Anderson’s and Sibling’s of the world about to erupt from New York, who knows?

Is Asaf Ganot, who just showed his SS 2016 collection, one of these designers? I am learning towards no, at least not from this collection. But, I am of a fashion generation brought up on experimental electronic music, Rick Owens, and Raf Simons. Ganot’s bright and sharply tailored clothes adorning the bodies of hulking beefcake types is different than the fashion world that I have been attuned to appreciate. And maybe that makes it radical? Or, at the very least, different.

Ganot has said that this collection is based on Brazil, and the oiled up, hyper-masculine, beach muscles thing can certainly attest to that aesthetic. But the clothes themselves were not profoundly interesting, or anything that I would wear.

Again, perhaps I am not to judge a collection such as this. I have been taught that any fashion collection that isn’t channeling abstract expressionism through proto-punk primitivism to (insert avant-garde sub-culture here), is not fashion worth my attention.

Adam Lehrer is a writer, journalist, and art and fashion critic based in New York City. On top of being Autre’s fashion and art correspondent, he is also a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine. His unique interests in punk, hip hop, skateboarding and subculture have given him a distinctive, discerning eye and voice in the world of culture, et al.Oh, and he also loves The Sopranos. Follow him on Instagram: @adam102287

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Tessa Edwards: Ready for the Afterlife

May 19, 2011

London based designer Tessa Edwards presents her fall/winter 2011/2012 collection inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead. tessaedwards.com

Minimal Eccentricity: Émilie Meldem

May 12, 2011

The 2011 Hyères festival of fashion and photography in Southern France has come and gone. Swiss designer Émilie Meldem, who won this year's Special Jury Prize, makes a unique and remarkable statement. Émilie Meldem "takes her inspiration from her native Switzerland, which she transposes into an isolated country, caught between modernity and tradition, restriction and freedom, fragility and strength. This duality results in a form of minimal eccentricity, which is at the same time decorative and radical."

photography by Yann Gross

CATEGORIES: ART / CULTURE / MUSIC / FILM PROSE / DESIGN / FASHION

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