In the past, Tomas Maier has curiously tried to steer away from any connotations of sex appeal in his clothes. After this collection, he can run, but he can't hide, because there was steam heat in these outfits. But what do you expect when you namecheck Burt Reynolds in all his matte-chested glory as the presiding spirit of your show? Back in the day, Burt knew how to rock a leisure suit, and it was the ease and convenience of that archetypal seventies look that Maier was attempting to channel for spring 2007. His challenge: How can you get away with wearing nothing under a jacket? His solution: a combo shirt-jacket inspired by that leisure suit. In laundered white linen, it already looked like next summer's essential.
Maier also laundered the newness out of everything else in the collection, so that colors were sun-bleached and fabrics had a worn, papery look. It's a bold move with clothes this expensive, but it's already become a BV signature. And a sense of the familiar is something Maier is adamant about maintaining, so that men have time to understand and absorb his proposals. That's why the shrunken, cropped jacket reappeared.
The use of random numbers as decoration was a new element, however. In the era of Lost, cryptic numerals have acquired a whole new weight, but Maier claimed he was merely fascinated by the graphics of an old typewriter. For that we can presumably credit the same resolutely cerebral side of his character that, amid the casual sensuality of the rest of his clothes, produced two items unlikely to get the wearer any action: a Peter Pan-collared shirt and a primly high-buttoning cardigan.
