News broke yesterday that Alexander Wang is launching a denim line. As we ve come to expect from Wang, the jeans combine cool factor (on-trend cuts lifted from vintage men s styles) with a serious dose of technological experimentation. "I wanted to do denim for a long time, but it s a hard [category] to revolutionize," he said. "Most black denim starts fading after three washes, but ours lasts eight before fading." The jeans go on sale online and in his own stores next week, and it won t take long for them to infiltrate the closets of cool types.
His new Pre-Fall collection is similarly customer-focused. Back in June at his Resort presentation, Wang was keen to set an agenda; boxy, utilitarian shapes that called to mind firemen s gear predominated. Here, his touch was much more nuanced. Wang was looking at menswear, loungewear, and uniforms, but he didn t hit you over the head with the details. You almost missed the black flight suit lacing down the side seams of an army green silk slipdress, and a leather wrap coat clearly inspired by a bathrobe remained polished and elegant. Another clue that Wang has shrugged off conceptual clothes—at least for the moment—came in the form of a capsule collection of eveningwear, made after multiple requests from his retailers. There was nothing revolutionary about the minimal black and white gowns hanging on a rack, but they looked unarguably chic.
