The Mold Cracks
Designers who have spent the last year squeezing men into second-skin suits and tourniquet-tight trousers have learned the awful truth: “Most guys aren’t in the gym as much as we thought they were.”
Those were Donna Karan’s words last week as she and nearly three dozen other designers unveiled their spring 1998 collections here. During five days of runway and showroom presentations known collectively as the New York Men’s Shows, Seventh Avenue replaced the unwearable tightness of being hip with lighter fabrics and more relaxed silhouettes.
From American minimalist Calvin Klein to the influential Austrian designer Helmut Lang, who for the first time showed his menswear in New York, the talk was of see-through shirts, gradient-tinted sweaters, wide-legged pants, unconstructed jackets, and an undercurrent of ‘80s revivalism that is loosening up fashion and replacing retro-’70s rehashes.
Boatneck sweaters and iridescent fabrics looked particularly good too.
Although the lurid media frenzy surrounding designer Gianni Versace’s murder dampened the proceedings, the focus remained on the runway shows, the first fashion presentations held since the Italian designer’s death on July 15. (Versace’s men’s collection was show during Italian fashion week in late June.) Klein dedicated his collection to Versace. Tommy Hilfiger, too, toasted the designer’s memory at his news conference-cum-presentation, after which singer Sheryl Crow modeled clothes that Hilfiger had designed for her tour.
When asked about the heightened security at the shows, Fern Mallis, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said, “I think Gianni would rather we talk about menswear.” And everyone did, approvingly for the most part.
What won favor was the diversity of the latest collections.
“The last two seasons, everyone has been taking off on Prada and Gucci,” said Barry Blevins, market editor for Details magazine. “But there’s not really a uniform look right now. It’s more anything goes.”
Truly, an adventurous dresser can opt for Karan’s slouchy ribbed sweaters and wide linen pants in Saharan colors, Klein’s polished leather peacoat in the unexpected shade of smoky lilac worn with charcoal trousers, or Lang’s fishnet shirts and nylon pants.
Even an oversized silver nylon running suit from hip-hop designer Maurice Malone was a winning “old school” alternative to the skinny swinger clothes of seasons past. “Men want ease. They want comfort. They want relaxed clothes,” Karan said.
That’s pretty much what they got.
Suits have been “reproportioned,” to use Klein’s word, by the introduction of wide-legged pants, often styled with flat fronts. The widest pants were the khaki drawstring chinos at Perry Ellis. These were worn with jazz oxfords, the thin-soled dancing shoes last in fashion during the early 1980s. They looked absurd, but if Hush Puppies can come back, so can Capezios. But so soon?
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At Ralph Lauren, the look was a decidedly ‘80s take on ‘30s glamour--a striped muscle T-shirt, for instance, tucked into very wide, very drapey “Riviera” pants in viscose gabardine, feyly styled with a necktie worn as a belt and, perhaps, some velvet slippers monogrammed RL. The collection--alternately themed around classic resort wear, safari gear and vintage soccer uniforms--was missing one thing: the designer. Lauren skipped the presentation.
In general, spring suit jackets are boxier than in recent seasons, with a softly padded, sometimes sloping shoulder. Two-button and three-button styles are the models of choice, with “unconstructed” linen jackets available as a sportier alternative. After several seasons of flirting with synthetics, the preferred suit fabrics again are natural, particularly tropical blends of wool and mohair, silk and linen, or just plain linen. Lightness is the important thing. Iridescent fabrics were a feature even from the most mainstream of companies.
Sheer tops were the most ubiquitous sportswear trend, as designers from the high-tech Richard Edwards to the lushly romantic Sandy Dalal knit fine-gauge see-through sweaters, wove web-like T-shirts in mesh net, and sewed short-sleeve see-through shirts in the gauziest cotton or linen. “It’s really sexy, but you’re still hidden,” said Details’ Blevins.
At Gene Meyer, a black French-cuffed shirt played peek-a-boo with sheer dots, while a lavender viscose polo was sheerly shadow-striped.
The underrated British designer Nicole Farhi offered up cotton voile paisley shirts and double-layered cotton voile tops combinations like ginger and cranberry.
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In his surrealist-inspired show--complete with a live chicken and a 6-foot-6, bikini-clad go-go boy--John Bartlett sexed up a preppy staple, something many designers are wont to do for spring, by making his polo shirts of navy perforated leather.
In various collections, designers offered “dip-dyed” tops--slinky sweaters that are light blue at the shoulder, medium blue at the middle, dark blue at the hem.
Tight, sexy clothes have not completely vanished and perhaps that’s a good thing.
A showing of the Tom of Finland collection, a sportswear line based on the drawings of the artist who has been called the Picasso of gay erotica, featured square-necked tank tops, white perforated leather jeans, laminated sailor pants, and a pair of swim trunks that reversed from camouflage to solid on the runway as two musclemen held up towels to shield the third from view.
