Thom Browne wears a suit jacket that looks two sizes too small. His trousers end several centimetres above his ankles and he's wearing wing-tips without socks. And he wonders why people stare. For his autumn/winter 2008 collection, Browne presented a collection under a big top, on hollow-eyed models who looked like circus freaks. He showed a suit made for conjoined twins and another version covered in crow's feathers. He also showed papal costumes and capes, which made for great theatre but would leave fashion laypeople scratching their heads, asking 'who's going to wear that and who will pay designer prices for trousers which ride up mid-chest?' Or could it be that men are becoming more daring and willing to step out of their comfort zones?
A quick flick of the website of The Sartorialist, a fashion blog that is equal parts devoted to what the fashion cognoscenti and people in the street are wearing, largely shows men in classic suits and blazers with occasional photographs of men who like to push the sartorial envelope, men who like to blur gender identities and those who don skirts and twinsets as if they were traditional men's garbs. Often the looks that gather numerous comments from the site's visitors are those images of well-dressed gentlemen who have perfected the art of folding a pocket square or those who have mastered the formula of suit sleeve to shirt cuff ratio rather than the bloke with the patent leather shorts and gladiator sandals. This is telling of the state of menswear.
While women's fashion has always loved theatre and every season embraces a designer's creative flight of fancy with the haute couture collections, menswear has seldom indulged in such outre showing. Menswear has always relied on the merits of handsome fabrics, precise tailoring and subtle updates on classic dressing.
Menswear has managed to escape over-the-top productions and the wild imaginings of the likes of John Galliano at Christian Dior. But with Browne's latest collection, it seems that men's fashion is taking on a more outlandish streak, that men can indulge in clothes without the fear of being thought of as something other than men. And Browne is not alone.
Raf Simons at Jil Sander, a designer who can always be relied on for updated men's tailoring with a clean aesthetic, showed suits in a veined fabric that looked like slabs of marble. Ancient Greek and Roman civilisations used marble to construct coliseums, churches and fountains, and it was also used to create sculptures, which centuries later are still being marvelled at. Perhaps the subliminal message Simons wanted to send through his clothes is that, like marble, his suits possess a strong, durable, sculptural quality, and that the way he constructs shoulders and lapels is akin to a work of art.
Tomas Maier at Bottega Veneta presented a fashion narrative, a rag-to-riches tale that unfolded in a sequence of clothes. It was as if he were telling the story of the rise of the Russian oligarch beginning with a medley of work clothes - overalls, work boots, heavy jackets, utilitarian trousers - albeit a rich man's version of handymen's and miners' uniforms as they command luxury prices. The show ended in a crescendo of tuxedoed models hinting at a return to the gilded life of the Romanovs. A way of proclaiming to the world that a once working-class, communist Russian has done extremely well. That he has arrived. And perhaps that Russian gazillionaire would purchase the overalls if only to reminisce his proletariat roots. 'It's interesting to think that at one time, the clothes that inspired this collection - formal wear and work clothes - might not have been in the same man's closet,' wrote Tomas Maier in his programme notes, but in a meritocracy where hard work is rewarded - best exemplified now in China and Russia - anything is possible.
