Menswear is such a tricky area to get right. If you stick to the basics you’ll be branded as boring. But if you go creative then you’ll only attract a small client base. Yes, menswear is a limiting area and I expect it’s exciting for designers to try and tackle this challenging market. For autumn/winter 09 Carolyn Massey has found the perfect balance between everyday, wearable clothing and more design driven styles, ideal for the adventurous.

Tailored suits were edgy and the long length blazers made a nice change from the usual casual jacket. Capes and high shine jackets were definitely for the more fashion forward man. Bow ties added personality and strangely sat well against the more post grunge looks.

“The way I see it is that all the men’s designers have to prove to the consumers that they need these clothes. There must be a compelling reason, if your standards are high and your budget—well, isn’t budging. Givenchy? Not a believable vision. Galliano? Been there, Jack Sparrow. Dior Homme? Wasn’t this a cool label once? Lanvin? Seductive and romantic, the clear fashionista favorite. Number (N)ine? Crazy delightful, worth it if you have $2,500 plus to spend for one of the Flemish-colored jackets. Saint Laurent? Drab and unimaginative. Rick Owens? Original but I don’t want to know what the wearer’s hobbies are. Raf Simons? The fit is the compelling reason, nothing more, nothing less. Comme des Garcons? A good season for eclectic pieces, including the leopard pumps. Dunhill? Pointless things done to clothes, with the formality of a boutique hotel uniform.”

— Cathy Horyn on On The Runway

If you’re as enthusiastic about New York Fashion Week as I am, I’m sure a week prior to the tents going up you probably deliberated, religiously, on what to expect this season from the likes of Rag & Bone, Obedient Sons, Thom Browne and other notable menswear designers. Would their aesthetic evolve and positively build from their last season or would inspirations for this spring leave them with a resounding kaput?

I cared to know and The Upgrader fed that appetite as they served up a sumptuous preview of twelve New York designers’ SS09 collections!

Granted that Rag & Bone’s British neo-punk leanings of a tailored yet rocker look have come and gone (their show took the stage Friday of last week), the revisiting of “the lives and work of great American Realists, Regionalists, and Abstract painters” courtesy of Gilded Age is yet to take hold (it’s Thursday, Sept. 11 folks) so one can still make do and familiarize themselves on the motivations behind these men’s collections.

Calvin Klein’s reasons for returning to the city that birthed the label are two-fold: to observe the 40th anniversary of the fashion house and to enhance the presence of Calvin Klein’s men’s collection to U.S. retailers and press who may not be as familiar with the brand.

Funnily enough, the announcement of his homecoming was welcomed by an editorial in August’s GQ on the minimalism that is Calvin Klein. However, much credit is due to Italo Zucchelli, Calvin Klein’s creative direction for menswear, for his ability to uphold the classicism of American menswear, but infuse an eccentricity in the form of innovative tailoring and fabric choice that keeps us coming back.

Owing to the labels minimalist traditions, the palettes are neutral and unchanging—white, black, grey, beige. By the same token, this brew of conservative with a smidgen of quirk ensures Calvin Klein’s men’s collection offer a host of wearable pieces that can transition into any man’s wardrobe at an instant.

On that note, I—and I’m sure many others—look forward to the advent of Calvin Klein menswear to New York Fashion Week. See you then.

The colourful surprises brought smiles to my face. I don’t know if I was smiling at the Hedi Slimane tailoring (even though the brand has been under the direction of Kris Van Assche for a few seasons now) or because I saw my self- 6 feet tall and slim as a swimmer- walking in the metallic gold, gunmetal skinny trousers that I adored. Whatever the reason, the collection was filled with pieces that every young, fashion forward individual would sell his kidney(s) for.

Everything wasn’t raspberry lemonade though. Assche was too conscious in his attempt to distance himself from the houses previous creative director. So conscious that you could see the blips in the collection: where the quest for isolation blotted out the mission to tell a story.

I hated the dropped crotch pants. The lengths of the legs were drowning as opposed to emphasizing the ease that such a silhouette can add. Some of coats were overworked and the glasses turned me off. Faults aside, the collection was very Dior Homme it’s just a matter of deciding whose Dior Homme it was.

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