After the most lethargic season of the 21st century on New York's catwalks, the scene suddenly came alive on Sunday with three surprising collections: Tommy Hilfiger, Off-White and Todd Snyder, all featuring fashionable menswear.
Tommy Hilfiger: Nautical Wu-Tang
Pride of place goes to Tommy Hilfiger, with a cleverly staged show inside a former Staten Island ferry, capped off by a rousing live performance by the Wu Tang Clan.
Thicker in girth, slightly wrinkled since the glory days of 36 Chambers but still magnificently ferocious, the Wu-Tang Clan stomped onto the ferry performing their masterpiece ‘CREAM’ to intense cheers and roars of approval.
Let's talk about a first-class show and a smart collection, the main theme of which was chic, nautical and elegant style. The Wu-Tang collective's explicit and associative lyrics and street style are an ideal juxtaposition to Tommy's cool new take on fashion.
Its svelte cast strolled along the open-air promenades and open-air deck of the MV John F. Kennedy ferry, while thousands of spectators cheered the action from Pier 17, beneath the Brooklyn Bridge on the East River.
“Sporty, preppy nautical, with new shapes and fabrics. High-waisted trousers, wider legs, cropped tops,” explained Tommy, who titled the collection ‘Coastal Retreat’. Showcasing admiral blazers; Breton sailor tops; and TH logos made from synthetic rope.
Another key theme was tennis, seen on white-trimmed V-neck sweaters, ankle-length dresses, wide linen shorts and knit tops. Often paired with a new key idea: super-tight cargo shorts. Or topped off with some cool gingham trench coats.
All this on a boat covered with clever advertisements or warning signs: Tommy City Tour; Tommy Buoy Nearby; Unique offer! Weekend tickets on the Hilfiger Ferry.
Off-White: The West African Rapper Chic in Brooklyn
The day began on Paris's Brooklyn Bridge at midday for the main New York fashion show by Off-White, the conceptual fashion house founded by Midwestern-born designer Virgil Abloh.
The event took place on a series of basketball courts, to the accompaniment of techno music and with Wall Street across the East River as a powerful backdrop.
“I thought it was time for the brand to come back home. We had never shown here before. It is a very multicultural city, like the brand,” Ibrahim Kamara explained quietly after the show.
Though inspiration came from another continent, following a visit by newly appointed creative director Kamara to Accra, the capital of Ghana, famed for its electric markets, fabrics and prints. He sent out sexy, sly wrap miniskirts or deconstructed dresses cut on the bias and paired with all manner of mini jackets and crepe shirts. He cut up tight fencing trousers and the narrowest cargo pants for men and women and sent out all manner of fitted tunics. Often finished with garish stars, sparkles and angled zips.
“I went to Ghana on vacation last August and immersed myself in the markets. And I realized that I wanted to come to New York with the idea of the global traveler, who brings fun, ideas and freshness,” Kamara explained in a backstage area packed with fans.
Playing off the way Ghanaian girls nonchalantly wrap yards of fabric around their waists, but pairing it with sports jackets and varsity jackets with cropped fabric belts.
The longest-standing complaint about Off-White was that its founder had shamelessly copied ideas from other designers, made minimal tweaks and insisted that this was something genuinely new. You certainly can't level that accusation at Kamara, who was inspired by African culture and street chic style, but always in his own way.
When asked to define Off-White’s DNA, he replied: “Community, globality. It was the first brand to embrace the idea of community. I want to continue like that.”
Todd Snyder: Murphy's Magic at Rockefeller Center
Few American expatriates have exerted as much influence on artists and fashion as Gerald and Sara Murphy, a legendarily attractive couple who set up a bohemian villa in Antibes and, by some accounts, invented the idea that being tanned was stylish.
His sense of high bohemianism permeated a fine Todd Snyder collection, which included Gerald Murphy's love of sarongs, finely tailored linen suits and a general sense of carefree comfort.
Ideally presented to just 100 guests at Le Rock, a very elegant restaurant in Rockefeller Center where they serve delicacies such as live scallops and swordfish saltimbocca, the best way to showcase the refined, patrician quality of Snyder's fabrics: boxes of Italian linen suede with batik prints or stunning silk suits in champagne tones.
A stark contrast to Todd's big show at Pitti in January, but another clever expression of his elegant, classic style.
The Murphys would surely have approved. The audience clearly did.
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