Alexandre Plokhov uses his Cloak label to explore deeply idiosyncratic images of masculinity. For spring 2006, he said he'd settled on two such notions: the early days of rock 'n' roll and the big-game hunter. This safari/rockabilly hybrid was most obvious in the opening outfit, a white cotton-canvas hunting jacket with a shawl collar, worn with charcoal evening trousers.
After that striking image, the veldt was more or less confined to the leather-and-canvas desert boots and the detailing on a field jacket. It was much more the lean, mean rock dandy who fired Plokhov's imagination. The formal touches on jackets, trousers, and shirts (including piping on lapels, satin striping on trouser legs, covered buttons, contrasting collar and cuffs) gave the collection a gothic tinge, even more so because of the shadowy palette. The main relief from black and charcoal was a decadent green he called vetiver, which looked appropriately seductive in a blouson as fitted as a fencing jacket.
Actually, everything was closely tailored, except for trousers that were diagonally pleated to create volume—somewhat reminiscent of Raf Simons's futuristic experiments in cutting. They looked incongruous, given that a pre-show Plokhov declared, "I want clothes to look worn, like you've found them in your grandfather's closet." So the yarn in a white double-breasted cardigan was aesthetically unraveling in places, and those desert boots were scrunched down. All these antidotes to formality were in keeping with Plokhov's conviction that modern dressing means eclecticism: you might wear one of his jackets with a Gap T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
