For the first time Calvin Luo is presenting a standalone menswear collection. (Usually, a smattering of guys walks in his women’s shows.) One reason for the shift is publicity—a sparkling cocktail frock can draw attention from straight-leg men’s trousers. Another is Luo’s growing menswear business, which is taking off in China and becoming a bigger presence in Europe, too.
As with Luo’s women’s, his men’s clothing is laden with allusions and meaning. In a press release—the designer was stuck in China due to Coronavirus quarantines—he namechecked references like Frank Gehry and Rubik’s cubes. The vibe, naturally, is geometric, with trapezoidal insets and cut-outs serving as the season’s main motifs alongside diagonal lines of crystals (inspired, perhaps, by Gehry’s undulating 8 Spruce Street). But where Gehry‚ and even Rubik, have injected a kinetic motion into their designs, Luo’s reads somewhat stiff. Layered together in the lookbook, these plunging V knits and half-zip tops have a strong visual appeal, but hanging on a rack, it’s hard to imagine a body moving freely within them. Maybe Luo’s men should get back on the runway—dressing models in motion could infuse a little more ease into his considered geometries.
