The ‘Twin Peaks’ Look For Fall
“Twin Peaks,” the eccentric television series set in the Pacific Northwest, seems to have enticed a number of American men’s wear designers into its small but loyal audience. At the annual Men’s Fashion Assn. gathering in Rye, N.Y., which ended over the weekend, macho undercurrents gave force to rugged, manly styles reminiscent of an Oregon lumberjack.
The fall season sings of rugged huntsman plaid jackets and over-shirts, “anti-fit” baggy denim jeans, sturdy leather jackets, quilted fisherman’s vests and field coats, bulky hand-knit sweaters, coarse flannel shirts and hearty tweed sport coats.
Even underwear and neckwear, which have been dominated the last few seasons by comical and 1940s “retro” motifs, have a masculine, ecological twist. They are patterned with designs inspired by game birds and other fauna.
Of course, such old-line outdoor traditional design houses as Pendleton, Polo by Ralph Lauren and Ruff Hewn have been touting the advantages of rugged wear for years.
But this season those companies are getting a healthy dose of competition from such well-known designers as Marithe and Francois Girbaud, Joseph Abboud, Perry Ellis, Ronaldus Shamask, Mondo, Henry Grethel, Jhane Barnes, Richard Mishaan and George Machado, all of whom are adding country seasoning to their brands of city sportswear.
In addition, such retailers as J.C. Penney, Sears, Merry Go Round and Cignal have introduced many of these looks in private label collections for fall.
Few designers expect or want to turn back the clock to a time before American men reached the emotional freedom gained in the last decade. As a result, those adding rugged styling tenets to their lines are doing so while holding hard and fast to ideas that reached broad acceptability in the ‘80s, such as slouchy shapes, soft fabrics and original, offbeat color combinations.
Modern classics designer Henry Grethel explains: “We didn’t go from soft and easy to rough and heavy. Once men are exposed to easy clothing with lots of drape, it’s going to be tough bringing them back to traditional rugged.”
Last year, the printed sport shirt attracted broad attention in men’s wear, but this fall sport shirts have been toned down to accommodate the rich textures and bold patterns found on this season’s sweaters and outer wear.
Multicolored Navajo blanket prints have been magically transformed into hooded coats and blouson jackets by such makers as Ruff Hewn, Pendleton, Nautical and Valentino Uomo.
The plaid jacket and jeans look worn by Harry S. Truman, one of the characters in the mythical town of “Twin Peaks,” also spawned variations on the theme from collections by Gianfranco Ruffini and M. Julian.
One way men’s wear designers are attempting to present rugged wear to a citified fashion customer for fall is with washed, wide-wale corduroy, now being applied to shirts, trousers and even suits.
Not everyone introducing fall collections is a proponent of the rugged trend, however. Designer Ron Chereskin interpreted fall sweaters by juxtaposing laurel leaf patterns and sophisticated geometric designs for a more genteel look, while Murray Moss, in his first collection under the MW Moss label, displayed a penchant for elegance with his assortment of velvet sport shirts and top coats worn with giant herringbone trousers.
Los Angeles-based designer Richard Tyler’s boldly colored, hourglass-fitting blazers and Girbaud’s low-riding, washed denim overalls and striped denim cropped trousers showed imagination and wit, although price points and limited distribution of these products may prevent them from attracting a major consumer audience. Still, their presence here illustrates just how broad-minded the men’s wear market has become in a relatively short period of time.
In tailored clothing, many designers have replaced the three-button blazer--a slouchy, unflattering silhouette from the 1940s that has had a tough time selling to more body-conscious men of the 1990s--with the more acceptable two-button sport coat. To update the look, however, many have focused on offbeat bright colors and highly textured fabrics.
The six-button, peaked-lapel, double-breasted blazer is still popular among tailored clothing designers. However, many designers, including Cecilia Metheny and Jhane Barnes, are introducing a more contemporary novelty two-button double-breasted jacket.
California designer George Machado for Zylos took one of the most directional approaches to the double-breasted sport coat by putting the look in an eight-button boxy silhouette in bright new colors, such as apple green, marigold and saffron.
In lounge wear, some companies, like Nick & Nora, played up the rugged influence in men’s sportswear by showing game bird prints on flannel robes and pajamas. Other new lounge wear looks included tapestry prints on shawl-collared robes and boxer shorts by Boston Regatta, and washed silk pullovers and coordinating bottoms by Nicholas Graham for Joe Boxer.
