Alexander Wang’s brand stands for debaucherous coolness. It’s a mostly black proposition of slouchy street-to-party attire. As such, one can’t help but wonder: How much longer can Alexander Wang continue this schtick? To uninitiated Wang Gangers out there, it would seem that there is a finite limit to the number of subversive, sexy perversions you can spin into fashion.
At his menswear line, Wang continues to prove critics wrong by digging deeper and deeper into his obsessions. Never one to cover up what’s on his mind, Wang is plumbing the depths of sportswear-as-ready-to-wear for Spring. Just don’t call it athleisure. Instead, the designer is using technical fabrics and sport jersey silhouettes to turn actual sport clothing into daywear for dudes. The best examples are branded with the Alexander Wang Global logo, like a rash guard–style top with rainbow-color graphics or loose wool gym shorts.
There’s also a bit of tabloid fodder in the form of a collaboration with Page Six, featuring prints of real and fictional headlines. According to collection notes, the print is meant to reference the ’80s media boom in New York, those halcyon days when you might run into Liz Smith at The Odeon and end up quoted in the New York Post the next morning. In an era when gossip and fictionalized news has taken on new meaning—ahem, Mr. President—Wang’s Page Six fandom reads a little sour. Or maybe it’s smart. Consider this: His brand got a considerable boost from a blurry bit of a Daily Mail video showing Jennifer Lawrence dancing on a stripper pole in May 2017. Her response to the video? “I’m not going to apologize, I had a blast that night. P.S., that’s not a bra—it’s an Alexander Wang top—and I’m not gonna lie, I think my dancing’s pretty good.” No press is bad press. And with that, let’s just wait and see where Wang’s Page Six pieces end up.
