TOP 10 Spring 2010 Collections

Throughout the menswear collections was a feeling of the late 80’s and the early 90’s, a look back to the soft ethnic inspirations of Armani, Ray Petri’s buffalo style, the era’s strange masculine fervor that seemed at once bullish and poetic, and its hard earned, unbridled optimism. Casting this season has seen a change with more men of color on the runways since the early 90’s, a promising sign of new perceptions in beauty. Something is in the air. That period, like our own, found designers and consumers reconciling a decade of excess and consumption, waning towards an essentialist point of view, and grabbing at any reference they could that would allow them to feel grounded and whole. The best collections understood this energy, absorbed that energy, and transmuted it into something new.

The stakes are higher now than they were 20 years ago. At that time, designer mens fashion was a minuscule niche, its importance no further realized than accessories and handbags. But in the past 10 years it has become an industry engine of its own, more than a platform for fine tailoring; designers have used their menswear collections to voice their perspective on the world and to subvert the male identity into so many varied dimensions. Just in time for the new decade, here are the top 10 collections that are boldly pushing ahead, defining a new era.

10.

GIVENCHY by Ricardo Tisci

Ricardo Tisci turned to the ghettos of Paris and Morroco, as if to give presence to the cultural blend of French urban life and its origins of North African Diaspora. The result is a collection that has re-imagined the most hyper masculine dress code into the most luxurious, all the while maintaining its ease and swagger.

9.

PATRIK ERVELL

In an effort to move American menswear away from its banal roots in yuppie classicism, or as a poor facsimile of European fashion, Ervell has mined out his own references that sit perfectly with our contemporary needs.

8.

3.1 PHILLIP LIM

Not that Mr. Lim actually designs the menswear, his last men’s studio director, Sander Lak, was hired on after graduating from Central St Martins and has how been snapped up by Balmain. But he does a fantastic job making sure the menswear line fits into his universe of cool, wearable, and borderline directional style. This was Lim’s first time showing the menswear separately and it was exceptional. The most distilled vision of essentialism, every piece was wearable and covetable.

7.

MARC JACOBS COLLECTION

Rather than channeling the designer’s own style, the line is designed by a duo who have every season kept the label up to speed with any top European collection. This season the line goes forward in the greatest tradition of American Sportswear, contemporary, and slick.

6.

DAMIR DOMA

A former assistant to menswear kingpin Raf Simons, Damir Doma is the new rising star of Paris. Guided by expert creative duo Sybille Walter and Samuel Drira, Doma has created a language entirely his own, entirely free of references. His clothes are effortless and organic, and if there is any difficulty in wearing them it’s because we have never seen the likes of them before.

5.

HUGO, HUGO BOSS by Bruno Pieters

Since Bruno Pieters shut down his menswear business he has allowed the fullest potential of that line seep into his work for Hugo, Hugo Boss. Unapologetically basking in the German heritage of the brand, Pieters has created a surreal world that is halfway between the severity of Kraftwerk and the dark romanticism of the Weimar Republic.

4.

CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION by Italo Zucchelli

What is Calvin? Who is the Calvin man? Tough questions to ask for a label that began in womenswear and whose name has become known mostly for underwear and cheap denim. But that has not stopped design director Italo Zucchelli from turning Calvin Klein Collection into the premiere brand for hard edged minimalism, void of any pretentious concept, and bearing only the mark of precision and modernism.

3.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

He negotiated his own brand DNA, always tied to ethnic inspirations, and was able to remove the stigmas of earthiness and loudness that seem to always be present when any multicultural world view is suggested as a fashion statement. Notwithstanding, his tailoring, silhouettes, and fabrics are enough to merit distinction from all the other collections this season.

2.

COMME DES GARCONS

The collection’s ethnic inspirations, the patchwork, and the strong silhouette reminded one the early 90’s, reprising a similar mood and silhouette. But it’s appropriateness for now is outstanding, and is in some ways a virtuoso’s accomplishment in defining the energy of the moment.

1.

YSL by Stefano Pilati

Despite that he’s been doing, for a few seasons now, Stefano Pilati for Armani sold by YSL. Despite that it is so far removed from the brand’s heritage, Pilati has managed to create the most inspiring and directional collection of the season. What he has done with a simple white t-shirt, a pleat, or an overlong blazer – what other designers spend a career trying to manage with masterful tailoring- is beyond. The mood, the energy, the atmosphere, the spirit, has taken us back to a time that was and that has yet to be- somewhere in our nostalgia of our first memories of cool and somewhere in a world that in a year or five , we will only be lucky to have a better comprehension of.

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