New York Men’s Day, the twice-yearly showcase assembled by Agentry PR and staged during NYFW, returned to Hudson Yards on Friday, taking over three floors of an industrial building. Men’s Day has become a tightly edited but worthwhile stateside alternative to international menswear fashion weeks, and this season, there were 12 designers in the mix, making menswear, genderless, and even a bit of womenswear.
This season’s sponsors, Canadian powerhouse Nobis Outerwear and menswear label Cross Eyed Moose, represented the more functional side of menswear with strong outerwear proposals, tactical detailing, and outdoor camos and heatmap prints—call it “Gorpcore,” if you really need to. Raleigh Workshop brought in texture with patchwork and distressed denim applied to casual and relaxed tailored silhouettes, as did Kent Anthony with intricate rope patterns applied to soft tailoring, while Stephen Mikhail’s Atelier Cillian focused on a slim and sleek look grounded mostly in black—the label’s softly draped tops were standouts. Black was, in fact, a dominant color at the showcase. A.Potts’s Aaron Potts cut most of his genderless collection in black, as did Julian Medina of Dionysus.
Terry Singh returned to Men’s Day for fall, once again foregoing trousers in favor of pleated skirts paired with tailored jackets, all cut in an array of playful suitings. A certain liveliness also came across in the work of Burkindy and Marusya Tamboura of the 2017 LVMH Prize finalist Jahnkoy, who merged colorful traditional textiles with contemporary silhouettes. Occupying the same whimsical space were newcomer Jimmy Alexander of All Beneath Heaven, who worked with hand-drawn prints and metal and glass embroideries; menswear designer Nicholas Raefski, who created a lineup based on his heroes John Lennon, Tiger Woods, and Freddie Mercury; and the exciting new talent of Beam Rachapol Ngaongam of knitwear label Bulan, who presented a captivating first collection at the showcase.
