The curtain is falling on Alastair Carr's tenure at Pringle, and the men's Spring '13 outing will be his last for the house. The collection he showed today felt like a summation of his (short) time at the brand and the ways in which he's worked to incorporate its heritage while injecting some of his own. It's been a rare review of Pringle during his time here that hasn't mentioned his past stints at Balenciaga and Marni. (This collection didn't avoid the trap, either.) The astringent futurism that characterizes those labels tends to show up on Carr's runways as well, a hard edge that sparks a bit with Pringle's centuries-old traditions. The mix has produced some cool garb, and Carr's done his part to play with the old as well as the new, toying with twinsets (here in mixed fibers and Aertex), instructing his knitters to put the camouflage pattern on today's sweaters on top of its ribbing for a cool effect, or gamely razzing argyle motifs for a shattered-glass look.
His final collection merged English country pursuits like hunting and fishing with performance fabrics and motocross details. Old sport meets new sport, in other words. Jackets with back pockets became backpacks—not just styling, Carr insisted, but really functional ones. What could've been slummy got upscaled, like the lounge pant in silk or the denim cagoule woven of 100 percent wool in Japan. All in all, some hits, some misses. Carr seemed in good spirits at the show, and word has it that he won't be out of a job for long. You get the sense he won't miss throwing argyle socks in with each of his looks, as he did here. That may free up both him and Pringle for the better. What happens next for each should be worth watching.
