New York Fashion Week: Men’s Spring 2018 took place this week, with its last shows today. Fifty-three designers and fashion houses broadcast their 2018 Spring/Summer collections, showing how relevant and diverse New York is in terms of being a hub of the fashion business.
The best of the season
On Tuesday afternoon, Hugo Boss' Summer of Ease collection took the runway. Ingo Wilts, the chief brand officer, explained the idea behind the show to reporters backstage: “There’s so much going on in the world right now — referring to the current political state the world is in — we want a kind of easiness and lightness in terms of clothes.
We came up with this summer of ease”
There was a live broadcast on YouTube of the backstage area minutes before the presentation of the collection, as well as the runway show itself.
The other must-see collection of the season was from the Belgian designer Raf Simons. This season, he presented his own men's collection (he's also creative officer for Calvin Klein) at 9:45pm on Tuesday under the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown. It was anything but boring, with no predictable items and an interesting location. The guests had to stand to see the collection, featuring genderless clothes, strong colors, big and wide hats, and a lot of umbrellas.
New designers also had their time in the spotlight. At just 18 years old, Taofeek Abijak is the founder, director, and designer of the streetwear brand HEAD OF STATE+.
His first Spring/Summer collection took place in 2016, right after his high school graduation. On Tuesday, the self-taught, Nigerian-born designer presented his second New York Fashion Week: Men’s show. “I’m interested in the way the natives adopted European styles and made them their own," he told The New York Times. The collection explored primary colors and odd fits for common trousers.
The after-parties are just as important
Fashion doesn’t stop after the designers present their collection. Every day after all the shows, there were all different kinds of after-parties to choose from. Raf Simons hosted an intimate informal dinner for around 100 guests at Bacaro, an Italian restaurant in Lower Manhattan, and a party with Matt Bomer and performance by Andre 3000 followed Todd Snyder’s runway show on Monday.
Today, brands like Theory and Linder present their collections, with C24H scheduled to hit the runway at 7p.m, officially ending this season.
