Fashion Week

Q. I see a lot in the newspapers and on TV about Fashion Week for women, but does anything ever show up there for men?

A. Yes, some years it does, but not this time. This may not be the answer you were looking for, but I've rarely seen anything for men that compares with Fashion Week for women. Recently I attended the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, where, of course, most of the shows consisted of women’s designs and only a few featured men’s wear.

I saw a lot of interesting, and some truly beautiful, clothes for women. But of the shows I attended, it was hard to find anything even slightly resembling a positive new direction for men. I tend to be opinionated, but that's my job, and sorry to say, this is what I often see. It was difficult to find anything that the typical well-dressed man might want to own or wear.

I’m not talking about the Zegnas, Brionis, Oxxfords, Phineas Coles, and Ralph Laurens of this world, companies who continue to make investment-grade tailored men’s clothes that change little from year to year – but then they don’t usually show at Fashion Week.

Because there are so few new ideas in how-to-dress for traditional business, the contents of most of the men’s shows are primarily casual wear.

But even the casual clothes did not have much appeal. Everything was olive, beige, gray, black, or white – for spring, mind you! Still color (or rather the lack of it) was not the big problem. The major problem was that nothing looked special. It looked like something that – if the guy in a woman’s life wore it – she would ask him to please put something else on! These clothes could only be thought of as “fashion” because they were being worn by good-looking models on a fashion show runway. On a normal guy, they’d look like back-of-the-closet weekend attire.

Pants included long knee-grazing shorts and leggings (yes for men!), nothing noteworthy, attractive, or particularly wearable. I can understand wearing shorts (except when they showed them with sport coats), but when and where would a man ever wear leggings? Tops were slouchy, drapey knits in Tees, Henleys, cardigans with no shape whatsoever, and some ludicrous chest-baring looks. (I guess the only useful information one can draw from all this is that soft fabrics and no stiff tailoring is what we will be seeing next year.) Shoes included a lot of flip-flops, sneakers, espadrilles, and other super-casual footwear. The only stylish men’s designs that stood out enough to notice were a few short leather jackets with asymmetrical/diagonal closings – either zippered or buttoned. But that was about it. Disappointing for everyone, but especially for someone who writes about men’s clothes.

The printed program (or what is called the “run-of-show”) provided at each show included such fancy terminology as this description of one designer: “a roguish American icon with a Brit edge.” It went on to say that he “disregards the universal monotony black and grays that dominate men’s wear. He instead infuses earth-tone colors with muted blues.” In other words, same old, same old.

So, a question may be, "Are designers saying that these casual clothes should be worn for business?" The answer to that is “no.” Another question is, “Can you get away with wearing the best of your clothes for another year?” That answer is “yes.” Beyond that, I wish I had something better or more interesting to report, but maybe next season!

Perhaps you might try shopping in your own closet; women do it all the time.