Rough, Tough, N Rugged. Kris Van Assche seems to believe it s his designer s duty to remind us that adult clothing can have these youthful attributes. Duly noted. The opening look of his Fall collection announced it again, by splicing into a sober black suit a bit of brash sweatshirt. The show continued along these hybrid lines. There were the subtler gestures, with pieces made in not-the-usual fabrics—track pants in suit wool, say—and then the less subtle ones, where hoodies were sutured to suit jackets, knits turned to shirts, collared shirts with ties into pull-on jumpers. Van Assche insisted it was a gesture of defiance, and it was delivered with the light touch of a schoolyard brawl. "You are what you wear," he said. "Simple as that. Menswear is so full of rules and codes. This is about not getting put in a box." Or getting put in every box. Van Assche s boys are walking palimpsests.
