Gentlemen Take a Step Back in Time
NEW YORK--Leave it to Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to jolt fashion out of a subdued, reflective mood with an extravagant dose of runway--and off-the-runway--theatrics. The 32-year-old rap mogul, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, threw a multimillion dollar runway show and party for his Sean John men’s line Saturday night.
The bash, in the banquet hall of the Cipriani restaurant, cost an estimated $1.24 million, and featured male models parading on the runway in more than $1 million worth of antique jewelry from Fred Leighton in Beverly Hills. Backstage after the show, a gate crasher was tossed onto 42nd Street by guards.
While his presentation was over the top, Combs showed conservative clothes. The looks were decidedly gentlemanly--Cary Grant and Fred Astaire--a marked departure from last fall’s “super bad, super fly” fur looks. Other menswear designers, who showed during the first three days of Fashion Week, also took a nostalgic approach in classic--and safe--country looks and outdoorsy clothes with a vintage look.
Combs’ pre-show festivities, complete with front-row celebrities Jessica Alba, Tara Reid, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Keidis and several rap artists, was more like a Hollywood movie premiere with a throng of camera-toting tourists, onlookers and the paparazzi on the street behind red velvet ropes. Inside, partyers gathered in a VIP room before the show, several taking bottles of champagne with them to their runway seats of hardwood that were especially built for the show, along with a matching runway. White theatrical drapes, also created for production, covered the walls of the hall with its high, ornate ceilings.
At a time when other designers are scaling back in a city healing from the terrorists attacks and grappling with a difficult retail environment, Combs’ lavish entertainment included a commissioned video about New York, old time Hollywood, jazz singers of yesteryear and family photographs (the show was dedicated to his father, Melvin Combs who died when Sean was 3 years old). Often, guests rose to their feet and applauded the images of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker that flashed on the screen to background music loud enough to make your socks fall to you ankles.
“I wanted to represent New York and show the fashion world that Sean John loves New York! This is my New York fashion week state of mind. I’m a different man than I was a year ago,” he exclaimed backstage after the show, referring to having been cleared last year of alleged gun possession and bribery charges by a Manhattan jury. Even then in the midst of the trial he staged a $1-million show, the first show at Bryant Park to be broadcast live on E! Entertainment and Style networks.
Besides, added Combs, who does not design the line, “I scaled back on the logos,” a reference to his earlier collections of hip-hop wear. His fashion direction, like his life, he said, has changed. Gone are the past “gansta” uniform looks of baggy pants and logo-emblazoned jackets and the extravagant furs of last fall, often worn by bare-chested models. This time around, models were covered from head to toe in a collection that has morphed from street wear to town-and-country sophisticate with a hip Gatsby look--scarves, jackets, belted trench coats and oversized newspaper boy caps--mostly in solid colors from chocolate and camel to burgundy and red, and in luxurious fabrics such as cashmere, suede, silk and velvet.
Ivy League looks dominated with V-neck sweaters, French cuff shirts, vests, blazers and paisley and striped ties. But even a rap artist has to break loose and there were a few over-the-top, yet elegant exceptions, including the show’s finale--a brooch-adorned burgundy, floor-length velvet and cashmere cutaway coat and matching trousers that brought the audience, estimated at 1,000, to its feet. Throughout the show, guests shouted their appreciation for the clothes as if they were at a church revival.
Afterward, Combs said, “I didn’t think my show was ostentatious. I feel that fashion needed some flavor. It’s time for men to play dress up, time for a sense of beauty in men’s fashion.” The Sean John line had sales of more than $200 million in 1,200 stores last year and is a staple among the Phat Farm, Fubu and Ecko hip-hop nation wearing crowd.
With the exception of Combs, the other men’s shows were low-key, including John Bartlett’s. Last September he presented his collection three days before the attacks in the cavernous New York State Armory in an artsy installation with half-dressed models in prison cells that had more than 1,000 guests walking around in the dark and tripping over each other. This time he staged a quaint runway show in the sun-filled Boylan Studios in midtown Manhattan with slightly more than 200 guests.
“I wanted my show to be more grass-roots and homey. There’s a sense of humility among many in the industry right now,” he said after his show of simple garments he described as clothes “that men really wear.”
That included mostly outdoorsy looks: red and black plaid lumberjack-styled shirts, thermals, quilted vests and varsity bomber jackets and denim jeans tucked inside laced-up duck hunting boots. Velvet, corduroy and moleskin fabrics dominated with a few houndstooth blazers thrown in. He said the collection’s idea came to him after poring over an old Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog he inherited from his first job at then Williwear.
At Tommy Hilfiger’s show, nautical, prep school and American country looks dominated, often all three looks layered upon each other, almost as if the designer stood in front of racks of clothes, closed his eyes and pointed here, there and everywhere to create ensembles. Officer’s coats and boot-cut pants were simple and basic. Varsity jackets, toggle coats, argyle sweaters and tailored suit coats mixed with track pants and plaid button-down shirts. He used the usual New England fall foliage colors.
“The season is about the classics in a feel-good way,” Hilfiger said after his show. “It’s about clothes that are homey and relaxed, that feeling you get when you bundle-up in your favorite sweater.”
Jerry Kay, the designer for Perry Ellis, played it safe with a wearable collection notable for a variety of coats: shearling car coats, duffel coats, wool peacoats and cashmere double-breasted overcoats. Suede zippered jackets as well as zippered sweaters were teamed with slim pants in velvet, corduroy and cotton herringbone. A slate of velvet outfits stood out including tuxedo jackets, black vests and piped trousers.
Models for the show included “real New Yorkers,” men born and reared in the city or transplants who have made it their own. Among them were Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys New York; Tom Broecker, costume designer for “Saturday Night Live”; menswear designer Gene Meyer, and Tony Fortuna, dubbed the city’s best maitre’d, who works at Lenox Room Restaurant and once worked at the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills.
Ron Chereskin turned his showroom into a ski lodge for a collection he said was inspired by the Olympics: bulky wool sweaters in turquoise and red with matching scarves, puffy ski jackets teamed with corduroy pants and soft cashmere sweaters. “Stores are having a tough time right now which is why designers have to be more inventive,” Chereskin said. “This isn’t the time for trendy clothing. It’s time for an Americana, get-back-to-the country look--something that is recognizable and familiar to men.”
A few days before the show, Michael Kors chatted with a reporter at his showroom about his first menswear line. The luxury sportswear collection, which he will debut with his women’s collection Wednesday, includes boot-cut pants, cashmere suits and sweaters, quilted leather jackets, shearling and fur coats, and corduroy and denim jeans fashioned after ski wear.
“I wanted the clothes to feel casual but also luxurious, like taking the granddad out of the granddad sweater,” he said about the line that is a masculine version of his women’s wear--modern and classic.
Kenneth Cole, whose past collections have been a cross between yuppie and slacker looks, also went with a country look with a collection of outdoorsy layered combinations, including chunky hand-knit sweaters, soft cotton shirts, tweed vests and velour overcoats--most everything in a warm, earthy palette of gold, cinnamon and burgundy pastels. Tweed pinstriped suits and corduroy tuxedos had an urban appeal.
A key element of his collection were slim leather pants, all distressed, in greens, blues and grays, looking casual and well-worn, almost vintage, especially with the square-toed cowboy boots on just about every model.
Cole paid homage to New York at the start of his show staged at his company’s showroom on West 10th Street, with a short film of the Manhattan skyline and the city’s neighborhoods mixed with several messages from his new ad campaign. The designer is known for campaigns that touch on social issues such as AIDS, violence against women and the homeless.
“On Sept. 12 fashion was the last thing on our minds,” came the first message as guests sat silently, many whispering their discontent at the designer tying in the tragedy to ring up sales. Others were saddened by the film.
“We were captivated by role models, not supermodels,” continued the film. “Red white and blue became the new black. Slowly we are returning to business as usual. But is it slow enough?” And finally, read the last message: “On September 12 we were reminded life is not a dress rehearsal.”
