Is the American Dream in tatters? Not for Alejandro Gómez Palomo, who returned to New York, where everything is not only “harder, better, faster, stronger” (to borrow a phrase from Daft Punk)—but bigger. “We always end up doing a show in New York in like a white cube or something that doesn’t feel very Palomo,” the designer noted at a preview. Looking for grandeur, he found it at The Plaza, home of the fictional Eloise, and once upon a time the favorite haunt of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, one of whom, legend has it, danced in the fountain outside of the hotel.There, in the carpeted and rose-filled Terrace Room, Palomo presented a tour de force collection of incredible beauty, the effect of which was only heightened by the simulacrum of the Old World interiors.
“This is going to be the [Palomo] show that [people have] been wishing for forever,” the designer said jokingly, but, in truth, it was. Here was a dream realized with consummate skill. This upping of the ante is just what New York Fashion Week needs; just as Palomo’s vision of men and menswear could benefit the world.
The boudoir was a main space of inspiration for spring; camisoles, tap pants, bed robes, and even ribbon-trimmed briefs had a remarkable lightness. Some of the laces could have been pinched from the vestry, while bows on sleeves looked like something borrowed from Velasquez. Palomo loves a historical flourish, and this season he honed in on the Jazz Age via flapper dresses and feathered headpieces. It was as if Gatsby and Daisy had been conflated, resulting in a hybrid beauty.
“Except for the medieval codpiece and the bra, garments have never had a gender,” Jean Paul Gaultier once said. But in Palomo’s world they have a queer orientation. The designer winkingly provokes with Ass Air looks, corsets, micro shorts with latter day codpieces. This season there were also man-bras. “It is just another fashion item that can be beautiful; they are just flattering for us,” Palomo observed. “We haven’t played with collar bones; now it’s a thing for men and I think it’s really sexy.”
Gender is understood to be fluid in the Palomo universe, but the designer recognizes that human nature—and his own—is a push and pull between opposites. “There’s the two sides of myself, the one that falls in love every five minutes and is very idyllic, and there’s the black leather, Tom of Finland, the cruisy scene, the darker place,” he said. Just as roses have thorns, demons have horns—and angels have wings. And there’s a shoulder for each to sit on.
The title of the collection was Cruising in the Rose Garden, and the designer asked the models to make eye contact with the crowd, mimicking the silent language of love and assignation. Romance and sex, and lace and leather were two of the dichotomies Palomo played with. These were intensified by the flamenco-inspired music, its beat reflected the pitter-patter of joy and the racing pace of arousal. The flamenco pants, among other pieces, were constructed using a curved pattern technique Palomo learned from well-known Spanish design duo Victorio y Lucchino.
The rose flower was interpreted in many ways through the collection, including on charming bags. Densely packed floral knits were part of a Palomo Spain x Bimba y Lola collaboration. (The latter is a Spanish accessories and fashion brand.) This includes womenswear pieces. “It is the same thing I do, really, but there is a vision that these [pieces from this partnership] are going to be in a women’s wear shop at the end of the day,” Palomo stated.
Still it’s the beauty of men, and the endless possibilities of masculinity (although anyone can wear the clothes) that Palomo celebrates. The garments vied with their wearers for the audience’s attention. There were jackets cut to a matador’s length paired with shorts with pintucked pleats that also showed up with pants. In his show notes, the designer said that last season’s celebration of childhood was put aside for more adult content, but this viewer doesn’t entirely agree. There were some looks, especially those made of ditsy prints, that recalled the kind of children’s wear that will soon be on display in London in “Oh Boy! Dressing Boys 1760-1930.”
In some ways this spring collection was a maturation of all that Palomo had done before. “People that enjoy fashion, that live in fashion, create realities around us that aren’t necessarily linked a hundred percent with the reality of the world outside that is horrible and ugly,” the designer observed. “We need to create our own bubble of beauty.” May Palomo’s never burst.
