Patrik Ervell S/S 08

The best clothes are the kind that can extend themselves into multiple meanings, the versatile and elastic. A reversible jacket, a skirt than can be worn as a dress, it's the ability to transform into something else. It can be very obvious like a reversible jacket or in fact subtle and far more significant. There was a black anorak in Ervell's collection that shimmered when in motion and cut in a way that's reminiscent of antique men's formal wear. Its succinct tailoring and a gather in the back gave the illusion of a tailcoat. While connoting ideas of formality or luxury it kept its appeal as a simple anorak; easy, practical, and just a hint of the contemporary. Yet, it could be worn over a tuxedo at a smart occasion and its lesser status as sportswear would be unnoticed. The garment operates between two worlds very effectively. This is the kind of sensibility found throughout Ervell's collection. His continued elevation of synthetics and sportswear gave way to refined tailoring and classic menswear icons, a binary with each sides enhancing the qualities of the other.

There are wonderful and powerful details in the clothes. Some of the collars on the shirts have loops for scarves to be pulled through and worn. A nice touch of utility for the sake of luxury. The plackets, pleats, collars, and bands, while being functional and practical were done in proportions and sewing notions that gave an allure not usually granted to mundane construction elements. These were neck bands and shirt plackets that looked marvelous simply doing their jobs. The most douty items, a check blazer full of stiff and boring connotations, remains sensual and desirable. Soft lavender denim heightened a new and bold aesthetic. The clothes move in and out of their conventions and it's up to the ambitions of the wearer to allow them to.

Ervell is keeping clear of the uber slim Slimane silhouette that was at the vanguard of fashion for some time. What he is providing is notably less affected. The outerwear moves around the body rather than intrusively clinging, tailoring that falls softly around the torso, and pants that are slim but not obnoxiously skinny. It's a look that comes off as youthful but flattering as well.

And what is a fashion collection without juicy references to dig out? I'm not sure if Ervell would be too keen on the idea that he had any that could be detected but i've connected some dots on my own.





This is all subjective, it's what I picked up on, his clothes stand their ground with or without intellectualizing. There's definitely an unique appeal to Ervell's clothes, their hip but anti-hipster vibe, the boyish attitude, the freshness of the ideas. He draws on a male archetype not yet appreciated in Paris or Milan but is finding a voice among the new crop of menswear designers in New York. It's in this way that his clothes become so thoughtful. Ervell has something to say and we're all the better for it if we listen.




please view the full collection and read Tim Blank's fantastic review at men.style.com

Go Speed Racer!

If you can get past the peculiar ethnic and cultural undertones, Speed Racer was really good. It has a good way of mixing a dramatic plot with action. The proportions and silhouettes of their animated costumes are pretty clever as well.

image from anime.com

Tom Thom Club

It's been about 3 years since the incredible Tom Ford resigned from his post as creative director of the Gucci and YSL brands. During his tenure Ford established a DNA for contemporary menswear laying the groundwork for the lifestyle driven and style conscious culture that exists now. Companies have now found it all too easy to market everything from exfoliates to socks to bespoke shoes to a man with deep pockets and enough care. When he left it was the end of an era best exemplified by a revealing opened shirt spread to the farthest degree of good taste, the scandalous Terry Richardson ads, and the pure sexual (but always covetable and classic) Tom Ford aesthetic. And now the man is back with an entourage of products for the contemporary male. His new store on 845 Madison Ave offers up made-to-measure suits and a full auxiliary line of ties, shirts, shoes, knitwear, etc notably absent of overt branding, instead, full of what Ford believes to be classic and timeless appeal.

But there is another T(h)om, Thom Browne. He wears his waists high, his hems short, and his jackets boxy. You won't see him sending models down the catwalk with a cocktail in hand, rather they'd be holding the train of an extremely long tailcoat for a fellow model in the show finale. It's safe to say that Browne instills a great amount of quirk in his presentations but does it with reverence to a tried and true past and a look towards the future. Browne, who started his label in 2001 and reached significant notoriety in the vacuum left when Ford took a rest from fashion, has his own ideas on menswear and the culture that can ensue. He recently won the prestigious CFDA menswear of the year award and opened his own modest shop on 100 Hudson Street, but that's just the beginning.

These two designers have taken on the challenge to dress the modern man in every aspect of his life. They each bring their own identifiable and developed language whether it's the typeface on the sewn in labels or the way a jacket skims the waist, they have their own unique voice. Browne plans to expand his business into categories such as fragrance and gym wear, it's an aspiration not of business diversification but of a genuine desire to realize a vision. And yet, there is no other man on earth who knows better on how to tie the isolated facets of a man's life into one succinct message than Tom Ford.

The two clothiers are quite different. Ford's developed sense of cool sets a stark contrast to Browne's high-water pants and oddball sensibilities. Browne is on the edge of things, his proposition is one I haven't seen before and that makes it very enticing. His suits bring nostalgia of the early 60's but the overall effect is just as contemporary as Ford's. And both designers have their fair of sex riddled in the clothes although Browne's is much more subversive with a touch of humor. In the next year or so as Browne expands his company and grows his name with a Brooks Brothers collaboration Ford will be testing his own concept for mens' fashion in a new store and retail ventures . The dominion of menswear is vast but constantly shrinking and how these two minds enter and affect the mix will be fun to watch. Of course, the men who are willing to engage these two designers and take note of their message won't look half bad either.




photos from top to bottom: Thome Browne, Tom Ford, a look from ford's exit collection at Gucci, a look from Browne's recent collection

The (Wo)Man in the Gray Suit

The democratic candidates debated last week and I took note for the first time of what a tailored suit means and what it connotes for a female politician broadcasted on national television. The suit has been a uniform of power, the standard for the public sphere and its meaning in our popular culture has been tied to this. A man in a suit can artificially create an air of authority, so much power layered in this language. And it is why the craft of bespoke and made to-measure tailoring has rivaled couture. I doubt any politician who has somewhere to be seen and something to say will buy off the rack.

In Washington, amidst the sobriety and old school tradition, suits on women tend to be prefixed by "skirt-", from Oleg Cassini for Jackie O to Oscar De La Renta for Laura Bush. These women were wives, the first ladies, the stewardesses of the white house. And as steeped in capitol hill culture as they were, their roles remain only in the private sphere absent of the responsibilities and esteem given to their politician husbands. But it was Hillary Clinton, in striking defiance, who wore the pants both on her person and in the debate. And it must be said that if she had worn a skirt on national television her words would have lost the conviction the men had only by default of their gender and their pants.

And it was only a couple of months ago that Stefano Pilati made a similar (but separate) statement on his Paris catwalk. His collection of immaculate tailoring was pure power. He brought the pant-suit YSL had shown decades before out of its novelty and into the 21st century. It is only now that the prescience of St. Laurent's pant suit finds its proper context. And hats off to both Pilati and Clinton for realizing it.




taken by marcio madeira from style.com
top photo from nymag.com