Telfar RTW SS19. Photography by Mitchell Sams
New York Menswear week is wasting away. Some of the best designers in the category come out of America, but the calendar for its fashion week looks conspicuously thin. Alexander Wang stands alone as, by far, the largest name out of the 18 shows on the CDFA calendar and the cool new generation of male designers are skipping the week altogether. London and Milan in contrast have a mix of big names and exciting newcomers on their schedules, which include closer to 50 shows each. This makes sense, since according to Reuters, male lines are set to outperform their female counterparts in the next three years. So, where are the American men?
For the most part, the designers are at New York ready-to-wear week with unisex and mixed collections. While menswear tailoring and hyper feminine silhouettes are very on-trend across the global fashion scene, gender divisions are not – especially in New York. Young labels have made reputations for themselves by disregarding the prescribed body politics of the fashion industry. Gypsy Sport uses exclusively diverse models, casting across the gender spectrum, races and body types, while Telfar Clemens’ line is fully unisex. Even more established labels, like Helmut Lang – whose apparel still falls along gender lines – have consolidated into a co-ed runway allowing for certain transition pieces can be shown in a fluid context.
Other of-the-moment American menswear designers, like Heron Preston, have fled to Paris’ heavyweight men’s calendar where Virgil Abloh, Hedi Slimane and Kim Jones are making sure the week stands toe-to-toe with the highly anticipated Parisian womenswear runways.
Still, as new fashion week destinations like Lagos and Copenhagen demand international attention and established ready-to-wear weeks like Paris extend well beyond seven days; there is a sense of fatigue to fashion month. The fashion burnout is equally owing to the amount of shows to see, but also the speed at which individual labels are turning out collections. Between, men’s, women’s, couture, resort, cruise, and pre-fall, there isn’t time to really appreciate a show, because you know that there is a new one coming just around the corner. This has designers like Pyer Moss’ Kerby Jean Raymond forgoing fashion week altogether some seasons, refusing to even churn out two shows a year.
The jolt menswear received in recent years is largely owing to the streetwear phenomenon – which works on a drop model where brands individually release limited collections at different times of year – not a top-down dissemination of traditional runway looks into the masses. The tide of men’s fashion may be rising, but New York’s menswear week is not a boat it’s lifting.