At Christopher Kane's collection there were still the oversize tees and elastic-waist pants that have proved such a hit with the hip-hop community (this season, printed with the molecular design that the designer has adopted as the scientific motif de la saison for his women's Pre-Fall and his men's Fall), but what immediately stood out about the designer's new menswear was structure. Proper tailored suits and coats, in jacquards textured like snakeskin, instantly linked the clothes to his Pre-Fall collection, a celebration of the serpent. Also connecting to his womenswear was the use of black as the building block. But where Kane's men's collections will always diverge from his womenswear is their infusion of the quality he calls "super-boyishness": He can't help inserting his own playfulness. So here there were adorable cabled angoras in royal blue, orange, and the extraordinary toxic green that was so striking in Pre-Fall. There was a blue vinyl parka, a simple pleather mac, and a sleek black thing Kane called "an opera coat for boys." And, of course, those money-in-the-bank tees and sweats, deliciously squirming with serpentine molecules. Kane's menswear has turned into a serious business, but—structure or no—it is still spurred on by his sense of snake-fearin' mischief.
