For once, the guys go first
Updated: 2011-09-20 11:14
(The New York Times)
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Wherever there has been a men's wear show this week, there has been a women's collection not far behind it. We're not talking just about man-skirts and rose prints, but actual men's designers trying their hand, with mixed results, at women's wear.
Alexandre Plokhov, whose name has been missing in these columns since his cult label Cloak closed in 2007, is now back at Barneys New York with clothes for both sexes under his own name. Patrik Ervell, a real talent who is not as recognized as he should be, chose this season to expand his horizons with dresses.
Even Michael Bastian's runway had a Missy Rayder sighting, in jeans and an unbuttoned plaid shirt that was a little too unbuttoned, which was the only thing that was really irksome about his otherwise entertaining show.
Mr. Bastian has been slow to make a convincing argument about why people should care about his luxury sportswear, but, returning to New York after reorganizing his production, he sold me. His new collection seemed somehow less self-conscious about achieving an aesthetic nirvana through khaki design. He opened with a model styled as James Dean, as in the "Rebel Without a Cause" poster: red cotton windbreaker, white T-shirt, cuffed jeans. Then he hammered the theme home with a mechanic's chambray shirt embroidered with a patch that said "Jimmy."
Shown on models with Mr. Bastian's usual requisite beefcake quotient (i.e., Chad White, Brad Kroenig, even the veteran Scott Barnhill), sweat shorts, cut-off corduroys or a Fair Isle sweater are bound to look good. But the variety of the looks this season kept things interesting, and the colors were spot on.
Mr. Ervell's experiment in women's wear (a simple white shirtdress with a black leather bomber, a sharp red jumpsuit) seems to have pushed him to take chances with his men's wear as well. To his usual streamlined formula he added some surprising galaxy prints on Hawaiian shirts and a bomber, a playful and risky chance that paid off. He also introduced his first handbag, an oversize pilot's bag in red or navy leather.
Barneys played host to Mr. Plokhov's presentation, which was clearly divided into a dark section and a light section, but everything else was muddled. There were long utility skirts for men and an unmemorable gray suit for a woman. His strength, still on display here, is men's wear that has an urban grittiness, and papery crisp uniform looks that this season included matching hats.
Simon Spurr dresses men who have a low tolerance for fashion, in suits and sportswear with just a touch of wit. His most daring idea for spring was to add leather sleeves to a jacket or coat, a look that, despite its first appearance in several women's collections this fall, does not dare risk being described as effeminate