Johan Lindeberg may have taken his own lanky frame as the starting point for his latest collection, but the items that really registered in his show were a handful of trousers that offered a silhouette so full, they amounted, in one case at least, to a "paper-bag" waist. They seemed to be a comfortable alternative to the pipe-cleaner silhouette that Hedi Slimane and his imitators have made the catwalk norm for men. Worn with a wheat rollneck sweater, these particular pants suggested succor, not strain.
Lindeberg, however, is rock n roll at heart, and the looks that mean the most to him and his wife (and muse) Marcella are those that suggest life lived on the razor s edge, where his current poster boy, Depeche Mode s Dave Gahan, has teetered time and again. So there was an abundance of cropped skinny jackets, tight little waistcoats, and jeans as fitted as a leotard. Bridging the gap between rock and a soft place were droopy low-closing cardigans and billowing nylon coats.
For those forearmed with the knowledge that belts account for an astonishing 8 percent of Lindeberg s $50-million-plus turnover, it was impossible not to scrutinize the models waistlines during the show. The take-away? A soup-to-nuts array of cinched-in style.
