BY DESIGN : FASHION / MENSWEAR : A Leaner, Meaner Silhouette on the Horizon
Is American menswear boldly going where it has often gone before?
That’s the hope, at least, of retail buyers heading for New York next week, where the majority will get their first look at the fall 1995 menswear collections being shown Feb. 5-8 at the Sony Music Building.
No one thinks mainstream American designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis and David Chu for Nautica--nor more contemporary resources such as Donna Karan, Richard Tyler and John Bartlett--will launch into floor-sweeping velvet dressing gowns, pink power suits and satin cowboy shirts like those seen on the Italian runways two weeks ago. They are, however, expected to concentrate on ideas the archetypal American male might more easily accept into his wardrobe: fitted tailored clothing, creaseless trousers, longer coats and monochromatic color schemes.
“What we’re really focusing on are body-conscious suits with a more pronounced shoulder, but very fitted at the waist,” says fashion newcomer Bartlett. “A lot of inspiration came from a group of illustrations from 1914 I found at a flea market.”
The same is true at Donna Karan Menswear, where comfy sportswear separates will figure prominently and suits will be leaner and longer. “Donna’s been narrowing the shoulders for the last two seasons, and that trend continues for fall,” says Larry Hotz, a company spokesman. “But there is also a big sportswear influence, because for Donna, menswear is all about comfort. So she’s doing lots of knits teamed with suits and worn alone as outfits.”
Meanwhile, Tyler is planning to relaunch his menswear collection for fall with a look that he calls “classics with a Richard Tyler twist.” Longer, fitted sport coats are his signature. But they will be augmented with cashmere topcoats, plain-front cigarette-leg trousers and longer-length outerwear in waterproof nylons, corduroys and velveteens.
Designers are also expected to make a big statement with technologically advanced fabrics that crisscross knits with wovens. Yet only about 30% of what will be seen on the runways for fall will likely make it into most men’s wardrobes.
“The shows are put together to excite and entertain the buyers,” explains Massimo Iacoboni, fashion director for the Fashion Assn., a New York-based trade group. “Later, designers will take a little of what was on the runway and show it to them again in the showroom with some merchandising thrown in and a marketing plan to back it up.”
Whatever comes down the catwalk, West Coast retailers say they are hoping to see even fewer fringe items and more of the “updated fashion basics” that have given U.S. menswear sales a major shot in the arm over the past three years.
Even though women’s wear still owns the lion’s share of the business--currently 55% of all apparel dollar sales in the country, according to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Consumer Purchase Panel--menswear is experiencing the most significant growth, finishing the first nine months of 1994 with a 6.2% increase. The fact that menswear prices dropped 1.4% last year, according to the U.S. Labor Department, didn’t hurt the business either.
Bullock’s has opened free-standing men’s stores in South Coast Plaza, Beverly Center and Manhattan Village over the past four years. And plans call for two additional stores, in Woodland Hills and Palm Desert, over the next two years. Saks Fifth Avenue has announced plans to turn the vacant I. Magnin Beverly Hills into a 45,000-square-foot men’s store this fall.
All this is on top of major menswear presentations at Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and hundreds of specialty men’s chains, including the Men’s Wearhouse, a value-priced clothing chain that opened 13 Southern California stores in as many months and whose earnings soared 32.2% for the first 11 months of fiscal 1994.
“Men’s is driving the business right now because retailers view it as a major growth area,” says David Wolfe, creative director at D3 Doneger Design Direction, a New York-based buying office and menswear-trend forecaster. “With so many merchandising concepts to pick from--Friday dressing, wrinkle-free pants, dress-casual shoes--it has nowhere to go but up.”
*
Some say menswear is so successful lately because menswear designers are interpreting European runway trends more sparingly. European designers laid the foundation for the three-button blazer three years ago, and American designers adapted the look, making it more acceptable to the American male consumer, says L.A. menswear retailer Scott Hill.
“In fact, this whole concept of casual dressing has kind of rejuvenated the entire men’s clothing business. Suits don’t just sell with shirts and ties anymore, but with knits and T-shirts,” Hill says. “So within the entire menswear spectrum, you have more classifications and much more interplay of patterns and textures for men to choose from.”
“Men’s is doing well now because lines like Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Ralph Lauren and even Giorgio Armani--to some degree--are doing more understandable, salable fashion,” says Bullock’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Steinberg. Whether real or imagined, “the menswear industry has come up with a new angle--Friday wear--driven by California in many ways. It says we want to dress more casually, and this more relaxed approach to fashion has, in essence, become a new business for a lot of stores.”
Joe Sapienza, director of men’s product development at JC Penney, says, “More men are shopping for themselves these days rather than letting their wives do it for them, and they are buying more clothes with multiuse possibilities. Women’s has had that for years, but the fact it’s new for men may be what’s driving the business.”
“What all this emphasis on casual wear is doing,” says Karen Alberg, editor of MR, a New York-based men’s trade journal that tracks menswear trends, “is giving men a lot more clothing options. And options are always good for business.”
