March, 24th, 2015

____________

Why #Boateng Is a Master of Masculinity

Here is an @Ozwald_Boateng’s, this time on @GIVENCHYofficial’s idea of Parisian panache. Panache, you ask? Aren’t #menswear collections and, thus, constructed around panache? Well, as a comparison from The #HediSlimane #womenswear @SaintLarent.Paris shows, there is #punk panache in the dolly moves and diffident head tilts, and then there is #OzwaldBoateng #panache: scalpel-cut bespoke’s yet airy, angled pockets, concealed but tons, perfect linings and mixed vibrant colors. Outsized expressions of sobriété à l’anglaise that still, a decade later, replace masterfully the pedantic menswear fashion of today. Because let’s face it, there’s only one word to sum up what went on this season: painful. The drag of cross-dressing, followed by an interminable efféminé wardrobe. Then the pretentious Homme-fourré: android-faced men dressed tastelessly in a woman attitudes, even trussed up in skirts and dresses so constricting it looked like a special form of cruelty to masculinity. These are perplexing times both for the designers and the men, which have been troubled by several swerves in interpretation over the past few years. From what was possible to ascertain about my style, a kind of zen anarchism might have been expected. The confusion here is as much to do with what Masculinité means to the world at large as it is about the difficult contrivances of today’s reinventions. Essentially, that leaves us, facing the same question as it was when #OzwaldBoateng appeared in 1995: At exactly what kind of #man is it aimed? The 2015 nerve-grating season didn’t provide any kind of new proposition. “When I started working, being elegant meant dressing in a somber manner. I think a suit should make the man wearing it feel as sexy and self-assured as a woman feels when she puts on a dress that makes her feel beautiful. But expertise alone is not enough, you need a creative vision. This is why I say that a tailor is much more than someone who specializes in suits, he’s a couturier for men.” Messieurs, #GIVENCHY #Homme #SS2006 by @Ozwald_Boateng. Panache, recherché.
_

#ALESSANDROBERGA | L’ÉDITOR
#MODEDIPLOMATIQUE