July 5th, 2011 by Sophia Bendrodt

Thom Browne

Thom Browne staged his flapper-and-fringe-themed show in the dining room of the famed Maxim’s restaurant, to the strains of “Willkommen” from Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret.”

What followed was Browne’s usual curio cabinet of tailored pieces, garments that often seem designed more to showcase his skills than to be worn out in the real world — such as the fringed lampshade bucket hat worn by the first model down the runway.

Based in a color palette of black and gray with Browne’s traditional red, white and-blue accents, the collection of suits, jackets, capes, shirt dresses and shorts was heavy on the stripes and nearly as heavy on the fringe, which seemed to dangle from every garment edge imaginable — jacket shoulder pads, trousers, hems of jackets and shirts, scarves and the aforementioned lampshade hats. Fringe was also featured on at least two full-on dresses — one a knee-length number in alternating blue- and white-striped tiers of flapper fringe, and the other a tiered flapper fringe dress in black worn over a white dinner jacket.

Many looks, even suits, dispensed with arms and either hung like capes or resembled vests. The multitude of stripes, the fringe and the bare arms helped elongate the silhouette, as did the strands of pearls that hung loosely from neck to knees, and the black socks held up by garters of red-white-and-blue grosgrain.

What the full-on flapper regalia stole focus from, however, was the fact that Thom Browne’s man-boy silhouette is continuing its evolution. The models who sauntered and glowered their way through the dining room looked more “Matrix” than Maxim’s, and even without the padded jackets and vests, clearly had stronger shoulders and more muscular arms than many of the models who have walked his shows in the past. It was a welcome change.

Roland Mouret Mr.

The standout of the new-to-the-catwalk club was the runway debut of Roland Mouret’s menswear collection , which was as strong as the shoulder that was the focus of his safari-flavored journey.

“Everything for me comes from the shoulders,” Mouret explained, “as opposed to women’s wear, which for me, comes from the waist.”

The result was an upscale traveler’s wardrobe full of belted twill safari jackets, canvas parkas and bombers all in adventurer-appropriate muted khakis, browns and the occasional bright yellow, balanced by trousers with generously cut legs that nipped in so severely at the waist some of the deep pleats curved like parentheses.

It was the simple, unfussy things that were the best parts of Mouret’s inaugural men’s runway outing — which is to say just about everything. Some of the standouts were a linen melange double-breasted jacket, a mint green cashmere cardigan paired with a V-neck cashmere top and the pair of electric blue basket-weave trousers that closed the show. Expect to see a lot more from Rolan Mouret Mr. in the future.

Adam Kimmel

Adam Kimmel, who in the past has shown his menswear collections in staged tableau presentations, decided it was time to take his label to the next level — a full-blown runway show.

Kimmel described his spring and summer 2012 collection as “dark surfing with a psychedelic undertone.” His goal was to create clothes that captured the spirit of the surfer without the traditional look.

That meant forsaking loud prints and bright colors for a dialed-down black and olive color palette with a few bursts of red. A Hawaiian floral print that appeared on several shorts was muted to shadow status by a black overdye treatment, and the brightest colors in the entire collection came on black T-shirts with a custom psychedelic print that evoked the ’60s-era concert poster art of Alton Kelley and Rick Griffin. The collection included reversible blazers, bomber jackets with detachable collars and sleeves, and resin-coated cotton outerwear, and it was full of athletic-inspired touches. Wetsuit-style stitching was used on many of the pieces, mesh knit sweaters sported neoprene elbow pads, and some jacket sleeves had surf-wax pouches.

But the runway format didn’t allow for the fullest appreciation of the functionality of many of the pieces — a signature of Kimmel’s collections.

John Galliano

One of the most notable new faces was the one that appeared at the end of the John Galliano show — the label’s new creative director, Bill Gaytten. Gaytten, 51, holds a degree in architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. But he has spent the last 23 years working alongside the label’s eponymous founder, John Galliano, who was fired by majority owner LVMH Louis Vuitton in March in the midst of a scandal over anti-Semitic comments Galliano allegedly made.

The most noticeable difference was the absence of Galliano’s signature over-the-top styling, makeup and theatrical sets. Though the more subdued presentation may have cut into the mood, it made it a lot easier to envision the clothes as they’d most likely be worn.

Inspired by the London Pop Art scene of the 1960s, the collection included references to artist Peter Blake — whose creations include the cover art for the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album. Blake’s influence took form in military-inspired jackets, frock coats and prints in a color palette of earthy tones with some pops of red.

David Hockney and his 1967 painting “A Bigger Splash,” provided the jumping-off point for the collection’s tailored pieces, both in the color palette of blues and whites and in a kind of Hockney costume consisting of preppy greens and reds, bow ties or school ties and the artist’s signature round spectacles.

The last two groupings to hit the runway were a selection of dressing gowns and underwear, followed by flashy evening wear . They may have switched up the print patterns and colors, but are otherwise just variations of what’s appeared on the John Galliano runway in the past.

Gaytten’s inaugural menswear collection as the brand’s creative director was titled “Big Splash” — a reference to the aforementioned Hockney painting. And though it may not have lived up to that moniker, it didn’t sink — or make waves — either. And that’s a start.

Dries Van Noten

Dries Van Noten didn’t start out with the notion of creating a horse racing/equestrian-inspired collection, that’s just where he ended up. “We were doing all these technical things — garment bonding and taping — to these light silks and satins and I started thinking about circumstances in which a man might find them appropriate to wear, which led to the idea of jockey’s silks,” he explained.

That result was a collection that included skinny-legged trousers with an extra-narrow ankle, color-blocked blousons with deep V-shapes angling in from shoulders to navel, and barley-colored tweed jackets with leather detailing.

There was also a touch of nautical-preppy flair: navy blue blazers; a red-white-and-blue horizontal stripe pattern appearing on trousers, shirts and generously cut Bermuda shorts; parkas and windbreakers in a crumpled blue nylon so lightweight it billowed with every step as if buffeted by a sea breeze; and a narrow, vertical version of the tricolor stripe that was vaguely reminiscent of semaphore signals.

The collection was heavy on the outerwear pieces and heavy-handed on the technical details. Thick, black hot-melt adhesive tape framed the exteriors of pockets, accented zippers and appeared as patches. Even sandals could be seen sporting strips of the tape across the top of the foot. And garment bonding was used extensively. But it was all balanced out by the simple, crisp, white dress shirts, the one-piece jumpsuits in washed silk and the open-weave knit sweaters.

The result was a collection that managed to meld the elegance of nearly diaphanous luxury fabrics with the advances of technical outerwear, and it put Van Noten squarely in Paris Fashion Week’s winner’s circle.

Lanvin

The Lanvin spring and summer 2012 collection was shown under the impressive, soaring iron and glass dome of the Bourse de Commerce and accompanied by music from the soaring score to “The Dark Knight.”

The show opened with strong-shouldered military-inspired pieces, high-end riffs on the kind of clothes the night watchmen or SWAT officer might feel comfortable wearing, on or off the job, including solid-looking pieces of bonded leather, utilitarian webbed belts and trousers bloused into boots.

It ended with soft, almost drooping shoulders; blousy patterned pants and shirts that wouldn’t look out of place at a music festival; and swaths of fabric wrapped diagonally at the waist.

In between there were clingy knit pullover shirts with artistically folded necklines, technical outerwear pieces that included hooded jackets and a car coat with an extra piece that buttoned tightly against the neck when the collar was in the folded-up position.

Overall, there was an emphasis on the diagonal — in zippers on the bias, in bags with straps from shoelace thin to guitar-strap thick slung across the chest, in the angle of the shoulder and even the cut of the several double-breasted jackets in the collection.

But there was a unifying element. From the martial to the mellow, everything that came down the catwalk seemed to have a certain strength and structure about it — not unlike armor, a uniform or even a superhero costume.

The building where the show took place, with its 19th century frescoes and glassed-in iron dome, was considered an architectural achievement for its use of iron and is described by the European Council of Civil Engineers as “one of the first buildings for which the architect and the engineer joined their respective skills.”

Likewise, Lanvin, has wrapped artistic beauty around an iron-strong framework for a collection that is built to last.

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