Musings on New York Fashion Week Men’s

It’s been over a week New York Fashion Week Men’s and I’m left with a serious of mixed emotions about the three-day event. Five years ago, New York Men’s Fashion Week started out to tremendous buzz with a multitude of notable designers such as John Varvatos, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Thom Browne and Public School joining in the inaugural event. Joseph Abboud launched the week with a spectacular show setting the expectations high for exciting things to come. Financial support came from the likes of Cadillac and Amazon Fashion. It was as if men’s fashion were starting to shine rivaling weeks in Milan, Paris and London.

Fast forward to today, New York Fashion Week Men’s has been on the decline. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) listed 24 designers showing for the week. Ten of which showed on Day 1 as part of New York Men’s Day, which has become the official start of the week. Established by Agentry PR, this one day event held in two parts was created as a way to showcase the agency’s hottest designers and give them their own forum. It’s now a mainstay for emerging designers as well as perennial favorites. Gone from the calendar are some of the more mainstream recognizable designers who have either opted not show or have chosen to show as part of other Fashion Weeks.

Last year, The DCFashion Fool discussed why a smaller week was not necessarily a bad thing. Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that here are still points of view that should be expressed and new designers that need to be seen. And for some, New York may be a more viable option to showing their collections than as parts of other weeks overseas.  This year’s collections continue to show points of view that clearly will spark conversation. Some seem to challenge the definition of male norms as we saw in collections from Official Rebrand, Him NYC or NIHL. While others focused in on sustainability and technology like Mined on Denim. Ocliq also took the idea of tech design and materials for its outerwear heavy runway show in its first outing for NYFW.

New perspectives add an interesting take especially in terms of menswear. It reminds of the scene in Devil Wears Prada and the color cerulean. How these ideas trickle down to mainstream will be interesting to watch.

In speaking with Women’s Wear Daily, Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the

CFDA acknowledged that it is no longer providing financial support. And with no large sponsors it’s essentially up to the designers and brands to figure it out. But despite the lack of funding New York Fashion Week Men’s is still going and is slated to return in June at the same time as last year.

That brings to question, how designers will continue to show off their latest collection if they forgo New York? They may opt more for a social media approach which can bring looks directly to a larger base. Direct to consumer brands seem to opt for this approach. Putting their looks on celebrities and influencers who are creating the content themselves and tend to pop up in fashion week street style shots. Or, they may choose to limit their shows to a smaller base (think direct showroom presentations). Some may ultimately abandon New York for Paris, Milan or London. Despite these options, there is something nice about having designers in New York bringing the fashion industry together to celebrate the upcoming season.

But does that mean, Men’s Week needs a period to its own or can it be folded back in with the women?  Some designers are already combining men’s and women’s shows together or they are just choosing to show during Women’s Week. And we saw that during women’s week some designers such as Son Jung Won incorporated men’s looks in their runway presentations.  While Dirty Pineapple combined its men’s and women’s show with its bold colors and providing a more casual approach to suiting. And WoolLeeX presented its men’s line, infused with dramatic artistic prints as part of Global Fashion Collective event. Whatever happens, as long as New York maintains a fashion week, menswear will undoubtably have a place.

My Look

Although, the week’s events may have been smaller, I chose to keep my style game on point. I went with a tailored look from Indochino that I picked up last year as part of their Black Friday sale. I find that I can get a good suit from them at a great price especially when they have killer sales. For Fall/Winter 2019, Indochino jumped into the outerwear game. I decided that my new coat would be the ideal coat to keep me warm as I scurried across town to different events.

For my coat, I chose the a double breasted burgundy Heartford overcoat. Because I could customize it myself, I had them make it a little longer than normal and slightly oversized. The coat is 90% wool and 10% cashmere with an amazing softness.

Overcoat: Indochino | Suit: Indochino | Tie: Ties.com |Hat: Goorin Brothers | Chelsea Boots: Prada

Photo Credits

DCFashion Fool: Dandy in the Bronx, Oqliq: Courtesy of The Riviere Agency, Son Jung Won: Rodin Banica, Dirty Pineapple: Salvatore Dragone and Paolo Lanzi Imaxtree, WoolLeeX: Photos provided by EB Consults Worldwide