NYFWM FW2016 Day 2: At Joseph Abboud, A Is for Absolutely Fabulous

Joseph Abboud FW2016. Photos courtesy of Joseph Abboud.

The players of Day 2: Joseph Abboud, Stampd, Duckie Brown, Wood House, General Idea, EFM, Robert Geller, Nautica, Carlos Campos, Zachary Prell, Ovadia & Sons, Brett Johnson, John Varvatos, N. Hoolywood

BY V.W.

SOMEONE just experienced a sweet assault on her senses.

Exquisite.

Is that quite the right word?

Extraordinary.

On Day 2 of New York Fashion Week: Men’s FW 2016, Joseph Abboud brings his A-game. Let’s break it down.

Superb tailoring, resulting in silhouettes that are effortlessly relaxed rather than implacably rigid.

Lush fabrics – washed velvet, distressed wool, Scottish tweeds, cashmere – that strongly imply fine taste, with the vigor to impart well-being to the wearer.

A decadently rich color palette of brown, gray, black, rust and olive.

Prints that can be taken seriously. Subtle plaids. Gorgeous paisley.

Accessories – scarves (tied just so; some hinting a cravats), hats (with roguish tilts), tote bags (functional/fashionable), gloves (fitting like) – on which JA collaborated with six other designers, complete the whole.

Behold, an accessible uniform that every man and an everyman can embrace. Dressed thusly, every man wants to behave.

A collection MADE IN AMERICA, dispelling the notion that the Yanks can’t construct a decent suit of clothes.

When it’s been 15 years since you’ve breached a runway, as the affable designer notes in the show program, naturally you want to make a good impression. We are duly impressed.

It is a stunning tableau.

Get the GENERAL IDEA?

General Idea FW 2016. Photos courtesy of General Idea.

Those overalls are definitely a country cousin in the myriad personalities besetting General Idea for FW 2016.

On one hand, there is good-natured goofiness exemplified by the aforesaid overalls and a couple of pair of jeans, hippy to the extreme of almost ill-fitting. The camel-colored collarless wool coat, on the other hand, suggests a town polish.

The boatneck sweater with buttons and hardware porthole cutouts – also bedeviling the aforesaid wool coat – is a smirker.

Meanwhile, the nurturer asserts itself in the bagginess many of the pants and an asymmetrical iteration of that camel-colored wool coat. All suggest a cocoon.

Indeed, for FW 2016 Bumsuk Choi, is speaking of many things, fools and kings. Is he babbling? Black peacoat worried by copious rectangles in a gray print is overmuch.

From the fount of chicness flows the white collarless coat with back zippered panels. Ditto for the white tunic with black color strip, BC in a coherent moment.

DUCKIE BROWN for the Sensitive Soul

From the Duckie Brown FW2016 Collection. Photos by Dan Lecca.

Along the boardwalk
strolling hand in hand

Seagulls haunting an autumn sky
Currents frolicking in the surf

BECAUSE, surely the man Duckie Brown deigns to dress for FW2016 is a poet or some such sensitive soul.

He regards me soulfully
his doe-like eyes speaking his inquiry

It is just such a one who can pull off with sangfroid the white puffer shirt, the collar of which appears to be a hybrid of the Nehru, Edwardian, Van Dyke and something from the impish imagination of designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver. It is as goofily adorable as our mythical poet.

Consumers of this flannel-centric capsule collection can own a piece as long as it is black, white, navy or charcoal gray.

It is helpful if our poet is of an ascetic nature, too, for this is very simple fare. Simple and well-crafted, constructed to stand the test of time.

To wit, the serviceable navy cavalry twill double-breasted overcoat will carry a man, regardless of his calling, through the vicissitudes of life like a loyal steed.

My heart does a somersault
He gently squeezes my hand,
COURAGE

Only a couple of pieces – white shirts – are content to do the pretty. The aforesaid puffer and the one with an exaggerated Imperial collar, peeking out from underneath a navy peacoat.

In this moment I am
certain I will say yes

Here, less will just have to suffice.

STAMPD and in a Fog

Stampd FW 2016. Photos by V. W.

For FW2016, Chris Stamp is possibly experimenting with obscurity.

That can account in part for the fog being piped into the space at Skylight Clarkson North where the Stampd presentation is in progress.

Another possible cue is the lone woman in the show sporting a cableknit sweater, baggy pants and baseball cap, ushering in the unisex portion of the collection.

Elsewhere, the designer continues the transition to haute-street style with loose silhouettes mainly in black with an occasional white shirt.

Occasionally, there is deference to tailoring, most evident in a couple of coats. A wool coat and a couple of cotton-linen pieces want a few less wrinkles.

One cableknit sweater in olive, reminiscent of CS’s more gritty beginnings, is a touch too grungey. The tear at the elbow is almost an affectation and wholly unnecessary.



On deck today, Day 3: Michael Kors, Perry Ellis, Cade, Tommy Hilfiger, Nick Graham, Gypsy Sport, Jeffrey Rudes, Calvin Klein, Tim Coppens, Ricardo Seco, Billy Reid, FEIT: Man vs. Machine

Visit http://www.cfda.com/programs/new-york-mens-week to learn more about New York Fashion Week: Men’s, including shows and show times.