Sexy boys, lush and louche, abloom and animal: grrrrr. As garlanded by Dries Van Noten, some of these wantonly remixed masculine archetypes were so damned hot that you could detect a wave of nudging between showgoers that followed the looks up the runway.
That these clothes stimulated such a tangible hormonal shift in the grimy out-of-town garage we were cloistered in was testament to this designer’s masterful application of a this-season formula for fashion Spanish Fly. During a brief encounter pre-show, he explained it thus: “It’s about ‘archi-fluidity.’ So, it’s a fluidity of archetypes of men and of garments. . . it’s all the typical elements that you know, like jeans, army pants, businessmen’s suits, soldier outfits—all those different things which are mixed in a very unconventional way, looking a lot to ’80s movies like Fassbinder’s Querelle, or even earlier things like Pink Narcissus.”
I’ve not seen Querelle, but Tim Blanks, of what was formerly this parish, perked up discernibly at the mention of this Jean Genet–based tale of a handsome young sailor who meets a murderer in a French bordello. The source material, however, was less significant than the result. Van Noten layered luscious contours of pattern and texture with an intense awareness of the sensual potential of adjacency, most notably on fabulous trench coats with in-built lining peignoirs in a yellow chinoiserie floral. A white parka lined in leopard worn with a camouflage fanny pack over floral pants was riotous.
There were overtly kinky touches, like the short shorts with belt chains, the leather or mesh vests, and the mashed-up army-pant chaps (sometimes in denim), but these were applied restrainedly. The strong-shouldered, intensely waisted suits—absolutely the most compelling twist on tailoring I’ve seen in seasons—were exemplary of a collection that incorporated the putatively feminine into menswear while simultaneously rejecting the sense of a 2-D gender dialectic. Both masculine and feminine and neither, this was a wondrous collection of clothes for elevated sybarites of every persuasion. And great to get laid in.
