tn2‘s guide to the Summer’s biggest style decisions.
WORDS Isabella Davey
PURCHASE // PAUL SMITH
The man that holds this look has a girlfriend that resembles Jean Seberg. He probably spends too much time on South William St. and avails of his back pocket for his Penguin books and ciggies. He may be a total ponce, but hey, who does that exclude these days anyway?
The Paul Smith Spring Summer collection was decidedly chic, simple and sexy, and the quintessential sixties sharp edge has yet to be lost from the backbone of Mr. Smith. The bolts of colour saw double breasted two-pieces immersed in Cadmium red, Zaffre blue and amber. Not one to scare off the boys, Smith ensured these eclectic combinations were seamlessly interspersed with excellent tailoring on subtly shaded designs, while nodding to the prints-on-man trend dominant this season and sticking his hunks of male magnificence in fragmented rose graphics and tailored trousers of overlaid scissors.
Paul presented exactly why he is both a commercial success and a catwalk cougar at the same time; from the side-zip ankle boots up to the tie slides he created a collective image of the modern man that’s ever so, irrevocably, undeniably, well, cool.
PONDER // THOM BROWNE
Ah the potential of plaid. The man who plaid with fire. Plaid it again Sam. Work hard, plaid harder. There may be a vast array of cheap thrills available from the puns possible, but there is only so much print, pattern, paisley or plaid one can handle on one man. Thom Browne has done a commendable job in avoiding the picnic rug look, however, and has kept his spring summer collection light, bright and breezy. Now that one thinks about it, perfect for a boating picnic really.
All his signature detailing is there, but the array of quirky motifs keep Thom Browne still in the game as the go-to guy for a damn good suit. His double-breasted short sleeve jacket created with the whale motif on a russet peach backdrop is certainly eye catching and wouldn’t look entirely ridiculous on a normal human being, while the pink and green lobster trousers read more kook than car crash.
As a collection, remarkable yet not ground-breaking. All the components of Browne’s classic cuts are there, in a more adventurous print. An old reliable, certainly, but one has yet to be blown away.
PARRY // MARKUS LUPFER
Imagine every trend you ever hated. Worn by that guy you always hated. Who DJs in that club you utterly hated. He probably shagged your girlfriend too, after some ‘harmless’ drug ingestion at a rave off Capel St. Now imagine it paraded through Paris Fashion Week. Oh Markus, where did it all go wrong?
Should we start with the startlingly sequined shorts? Even the length is unable to make its own mind up as to what it’s trying to be, lost in a swarm of trends all clawing for a second chance with the crowds. A centimetre north and they would be drag show; a centimetre south and they would be comical. At least they would hold some weight on the catwalk though, unlike this pair, which disappear from one’s mind before they have even made it down the runway. This indecision, which seems to be an overriding theme of the collection, follows down to the boots — a cross between the elegance of a Grenson brogue, the eponymous Doc Martin and those awful military boots Penneys made a small fortune from ripping off.
It must be said though, you could do worse than the beetle knits; a more palatable version of the infamous Christmas jumper. As for the man-skirt, I leave that up to you.
