To take it from the top—those hats. The wide-brimmed, slightly floppy fedoras that crowned Robert Geller s Spring 2012 looks couldn t but put you in a David Bowie state of mind: the coke-y, elegant Bowie of the seventies when, coincidence or no, the man was spending plenty of time in Geller s native Germany. (These wobbly hats have had an odd little resurgence in men s of late—they ve turned up at Dior and Lanvin in recent seasons, too.)
But, despite hints here and there in a few pieces that followed, this wasn t a Bowie-ish collection through and through. It was too sporty for that, Geller being a longtime adherent of the long short; the baggy, pleated carrot trouser (here with a paper-bag waist); and the slub sweatshirt. The mesh tanks he introduced as layering pieces played up the theme.
It didn t feel Bowie, in other words, because it felt very Geller—a redux of recent successes. And perhaps it s a timely one, too. Geller carried off the CFDA s Swarovski Award for menswear this year, and Spring marks his tenth collection for his own label. What s next? That s the question. Look to those hats, though, and you begin to wonder whether Geller hasn t found a muse to carry him forward into a more tailored, more mature place. Don t you wonder sometimes bout sound and vision?
