This was a sharp collection. The starting point for the Sportmax team was Executive Model, Ron Jude s photography book of nineties-era businessmen, and their riff on that inspiration managed to be both genuinely respectful of Wall Street s sartorial codes and genuinely feminine-feeling as well. That s a neat trick to pull off. The presentation-opening coat established the Sportmax strategy, adapting that ur-masculine garment, the trenchcoat, by giving it a cinched waist and a dramatic flare; elsewhere, fluid dresses and skirts gave boardroom pinstripe a sensual spin. The clothes didn t feel casual, but there was a nice attitude of offhandedness here, with the slouchy graphic knitwear packing an understated punch.
The exception to the collection s strength was its prints of numbers: The Sportmax-ers were trying to make a point about the businessman s obsessions with numbers, but it wasn t asserted interestingly enough to compensate for the fact that most women just don t want to walk around with giant digits on their clothes. Now dudes, on the other hand, do love a football or basketball jersey. Fodder for another season of masculine/feminine cross-pollination, perhaps.
