The first outfit read like a manifesto: gray flannel pinstripes worn with high-tops and turquoise mitts. There, in a nutshell, was the evolution of Duckie Brown. Steven Cox and Daniel Silver have always woven their own lives into their work, so here was Englishman Cox s banker brother in his pinstriped suit and blue shirt. But the non-banker shoes and gloves took the look to the edge the duo have made their own. If they were inspired by the conservatism of a family member on the one hand, on the other, they borrowed the collection s neon accents ("limoncello" said the show notes) from their design hero Stephen Sprouse. The rest of the collection made a similar point of forcing confrontations between the classic and the off-kilter. Best of all was probably an overcoat in double-faced cashmere in a gorgeous shade of apple green, with a caviar-beaded sweatshirt running a close second.
Those were only Duckie s most dramatic transmogrifications of the familiar. Lacquered wool trousers with a double waistband, or an elongated piqué evening shirt were more subtle variants. And, while the duo s signature drop-crotched pant has been spotted on other catwalks this season, the original is still the greatest. Given their play with proportions in the past, Cox and Silver s cashmere leggings had more integrity than some of the other pipe-cleaner silhouettes we ve seen for fall. Cashmere leggings, you say? Oh, yes, Duckie Brown is playing with the big boys. And caviar beading doesn t come cheap, either, even when it s offered as a panda face on an "evening hoodie." (After the show, Silver tried to insist that the beaded sweatshirt was "less than a one-bedroom apartment in New York.") Let s just say that the most intriguing relationship on the New York menswear scene just got more interesting.
