The yin and
yang …. The Spartan minimalist versus
the designer from the more is better school of design.
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There comes
a time when being low key rich and being overtly embarrassingly rich become unlikely
competitors in a market aimed at so called fashionable men…and the word men is used very loosely here in some cases.
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Rousteing
obviously never got the memo about loose more relaxed pants when in fact some
of his were so tight you might have been able to discern a model’s religion
which is to say that this style aspect narrows the audience considerably.
Balmain is all about the jacket and leathers …. and by that I do not mean the tailored jacket
as we know it but the over the top, balls out, look at me, everything but the
kitchen sink jacket and the same goes about his leather treatments! The heavy
chain bordering many jackets is an allusion the way that Chanel once weighted
her jackets around the hem on the interior of her cardigan jackets. The oversized
specs worn by some of the pretty boys might been an allusion to YSL, of the
Yves variety and then there were the Breton/mariner stripes which were
translated into grey and black done with
beads and sequins … which by the way were pretty amazing. The point is
that other than the late Michael Jackson, who might have given up little boys in
exchange for closets full of these jackets, where and who is wearing these clothes let
alone who can afford them since the jackets run into the 5 figures. The
workmanship is sublime, the message is clear but when one of the supposed great
fashion arbiters/editrix of our times can only remark about the music after the
show …. Well need I say more?
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Now, we move
to the polar opposite where Veronique Nichanian has decided that the Hermès man needs to blend in to the point of mediocrity despite
the wildly luxe materials and the over the top prices. I understand that Hermès
has never been about look at me fashion and much more about being well dressed
in clothes made of the finest materials and manufactured with the highest
standards of craftsmanship. This season’s incarnation brings the brand to a democratization
and homogenization that crosses into the banal and pedestrian while bowing to
trends in an almost absurdly slavish and
needless way. I mean really girl, glossy drawstring track pants, and a
preponderance of trainers on the feet with all sorts of silly oversized
windbreakers/outerwear paired with almost clownishly full legged puddling
pants? Me thinks Veronique either needs to rethink this direction or say it’s
time for me to go. Aside from a few screamingly stratospherically expensive jackets
and tops... what happen to the urbane polish that was part and parcel of the
brand? Who of this income bracket is aspiring to look like one of the crowd or
like a kid albeit in the most costly of ways? Hermès has never been and my guess
is will never be about a “youthquake” so why debase the brand and yourself into
thinking you can make that happen? One more time you need to ask yourself why fix
what’s not broken?
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