There are some men who will not want to wear the bright greens, pinks, and sky blues that have been brightening spring's runways. For them, there's Cloak, where designer Alexandre Plokhov combines a penchant for detail with a relentlessly somber color palette. For spring, he pretty much stuck to basic black, but kept things interesting by adding some new shapes, including a priest's cassock and pleated Zouave trousers. Plokhov wasn't afraid to take things to extremes—an ensemble of a black hooded poncho, guardsman shirt, and skinny jeans looked like the Grim Reaper about to go to Burning Man—and his gambles mostly paid off. In outfits like a well-tailored black cotton-and-cashmere cardigan paired with a dark-gray sleeveless hoodie, he showed the sexier, grown-up side of Goth.
Intricate zippers and folds in a black tailcoat and cotton flight suit showcased Plokhov's attention to detail, but the occasional half-hearted stab at color—a light-blue V-neck under a gray cotton-cashmere sleeveless hoodie, for example—only served to prove that he's wise to adhere to the darker end of the spectrum. The odd detour aside, though, Plokhov successfully took some risks while staying true to his form.
