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Fashion Week: Let's Hear It For the Boys

NY Fashion Week usually showers all its attention on the women, but men's fashion designers made a splash this week as well.

Duckie Brown

Designers Daniel Silver and Steven Cox went wild with mixed plaids on square-shouldered jackets and super skinny trousers.

 

Mik Cire

Eric Kim (Mik Cire spelled backwards) was inspired by the World War I military look, and a somber color palette of olives and greys punctuated the collection.

 

3.1 Phillip Lim 

In his second full line of menswear, the designer combined urban and militaristic touches, mixing wool with leather, and accessorizing with over-the-shoulder duffels and backpacks.

 
  

Billy Reid

This quintessential American collection was influenced by the rural landscape and working class comfort. He even brought leaves from his own backyard to style the runway.

 

DKNY

Classic suits and hooded parkas in steel grey were given a modern look with heavy black boots and colored laces. Clunky boots were a part of many of the men's designer collections.

 
  

Rag and Bone

The Ango-American label layered chunky knits and heavy coats with a vintage vibe, perfect for scaling the Rockies, or at least the coffeehouse.

 

Richard Chai

Since this was a fall show, there was a lot of layering in the collections. But Richard Chai played with proportions, for example putting a long cardigan under a tailored jacket, so the layering was fresh.

 

- Jonathan

Plaid Tidings for Guys

It used to be that the only men who wore plaid were ventriloquists, used car salesmen, and clowns. But why should they have all the fun? Plaid is making bold inroads into men's fashion design this season, with over-sized patterns that go beyond the traditional tartans. 

 

Plaid can be both rugged and fashionable, as this hooded duffle coat from Tommy Hilfiger demonstrates. It would look great in the city or the country.

 

On these pants from Dolce & Gabbana, the large scale of the plaid actually makes the pattern look more subdued than if there were a lot of smaller checks. 

 

Gucci does its ultra-fashionable take on plaid with this leather jacket featuring black and blue checkered sleeves. Again, notice the large scale of the plaid.

Admittedly, Glen Plaid suits can look a little Pee Wee Herman-esque. But when the checks are oversized like they are on this Ralph Lauren suit, the look is decidedly modern. 

 

Diesel reinterprets plaid with this black and grey checked shirt. The textile design is bold, and very different from the traditional plaid tartan.   

- Jonathan

 

Be Italian

If you’ve caught the trailer for the upcoming musical Nine, you’ve seen Kate Hudson performing the showstopper “Cinema Italiano,” in which she sings about her love for classic Italian movies. Once the movie opens nationwide on Christmas Day, everyone will be humming this song too, and we expect to see a resurgence of the retro Italian fashion design she mentions in the number. 

    

Skinny ties. Kate sings, “I love the dark, handsome guys with the skinny little ties.” Also into skinny ties are Dolce and Gabbana, who feature the sleek neckwear in their latest collection. (Coincidentally, Dolce and Gabbana make a cameo appearance in the movie as priests.)

  

 Skinny tie from Dolce & Gabbana

Italian shoes. The song continues, “I love to watch them as they cruise with their pointy leather shoes, wearing shades in the middle of the night.” As we know, there’s nothing like Italian footwear, and the square toe styles from a few years back have given way to timeless pointed toe designs, like these lace-ups from Salvatore Ferragamo.

 

Andrea lace-up from Ferragamo

  

And if you’re going to wear “shades in the middle of the night,” they need to be a classic style, like these Wayfarers by Ray-Ban.

Wayfarer sunglasses by Ray-Ban 

- Jonathan