The sound of choppers and shell fire set off Mark McNairy s Spring 2015 show, where the designer once again waged war on ordinary menswear. "It started with Vietnam and Woodstock," he said after the show, which featured a mix of camo and tie-dye on the runway. The collection never went as far as to be directly militaristic or hippie-dippy; that s not his style. McNairy prefers to focus his creative efforts on the intersection of new-wave streetwear and traditional menswear—a street crossing where, if it were a real place, McNairy would be mayor.
McNairy s MO is to take two ordinary things and combine them to make something unusual—beginning with the first model to walk down the runway, the rapper Travis Scott, who hop-skipped his way up and down, wearing diamond-studded gold grills on his teeth. Rappers aren t so rare at fashion shows these days, but you don t often see them on the catwalk. McNairy makes a point of casting one in every show. On the rest of the models, the collection featured the unusual garment combos you d expect from McNairy—sleeveless desert camo varsity jacket, tie-dye shorts suit, plaid coach s jacket, large polka dots printed on camo, multicolored snap-up shirt jacket. Continuing the trend we ve seen elsewhere at this season s men s shows, McNairy s offering was especially relaxed. "The theme is R R," he said. Even the suits were cut loose, boxy, with casual rolled pant cuffs or shorts. Many of the female models (and some of the males) wore baggy, rolled-up drawstring pants in various colors and prints—cool enough to be must-haves for both sexes next spring.
As always with McNairy, irreverence ruled. And it worked. Men s shows tend to be fairly sober affairs. Here, beer-box cowboy hats, "MAS*H POTATOES" printed tees, and embroidered daisies on the runway didn t make for the most interesting collection we ll see this week, but it sure was fun.
