THE MODEL OF A MODERN MAN
At the recent SA Menswear Week, designers toyed with the boundaries between the genders, writes Mary Corrigall
What’s hot on the (tom) catwalks at Men’s Fashion Week
OES fresh menswear have an aroma? It must do, for all the fashionistas winding their way through the underground parking lot of the Green Point Stadium were following their noses. There were no signboards advertising the SA Menswear Week venue on the exterior of this grand sporting edifice, or inside. This hidden quality exemplifies the status of this platform and, by proxy, “designer” menswear in the country. This is the fourth show since Menswear Week began in 2015 and this branch of design remains somewhat experimental and goes under the radar. It is early days in the evolution of menswear and it appears to tie in well with the way men and masculinity are evolving too; changes in one sphere will have a ripple effect in the other and vice versa.
Green Point Stadium does not exactly scream “underground” and it is an unexpected setting; sport and fashion haven’t exactly made good bedfellows. The sport-inspired setting, however, makes a good fit for a platform where old and new ideas about men can be explored for it is in the realm of sport that stereotypes about masculinity have been advanced and maintained. Of all areas of public life, this is where men get to reassert their physical prowess, their strength and power, and the spectatorship of this cultivates bonding between men, encouraging them to celebrate their commonalities.
The designers showing at the week appear to be united in their desire to buck the norm, celebrate difference and advance different ideas about men. Tsepho Tsotetsi’s summer 2016 collection suggested men wanted to be liberated. He literally encapsulated this idea with garments that brought to mind straitjackets. Tsotetsi deconstructed and tore apart this psychiatric device to reveal the models’ bodies. Instead of being an item to curtail or suppress, it was one used to express male sexuality. With straps hanging loose as if torn from the body, Tsotetsi more or less enacted men breaking free from the strictures of the male gender. A bit like women cutting the cords binding them inside a corset.
In other collections more staid notions about men such as dominance and strength pervaded. Such was the case with Black Dog and Ruald Rheeder. Black Dog’s vibe was very much hip-hop sportsluxe inspired with low-crotch trousers in tracksuit materials. Hooded tops in soft, see-through fabrics took the look into more feminine territory but black fabrics, trainers and the hard industrial music which provided the backdrop all kept the vibe macho.
Rheeder’s models might have worn heavy makeup, and chiffon shirts or sparkly embellished fabrics but they sure were butch in different variations of a tuxedo jacket. The silhouette was defined by broad, hard shoulder lines — all very masculine. Not quite American football players, more like dinner-party players. Essentially, Rheeder relied on a dated notion of menswear — as a variation on jackets, suits.
Some designers showing on this platform, such as Imprint or Terence Bray, probably err too far on the side of bucking this staid look for men that their garments look like they were on the way to a woman’s closet and got redirected. Of course, theoretically speaking, if you had to ask what was the difference between menswear and womenswear you would be hard pressed to explain. However, realistically it is hard to think of many men who would be keen to slip into one of Imprint’s baby-blue check summer dresses. There is a line between womenswear and menswear and it is interesting to observe how designers tread across it, or stretch it. Or, in Imprint’s case, pretend it doesn’t exist at all.
If there was one trend binding all the collections at this summer collections of Menswear Week it would have to be the bold use of pink. Everyone from Jenevieve Lyons, to Merwe Mode, Orange Culture, Tokyo James, Chulaap and Augustine boasted this colour in their collections. Pink epitomises femininity and as such its presence at this event reveals a collective move to challenge masculinity. The gesture may be intended to benefit women rather than men. Augustine is headed by a female designer and, like Jenevieve Lyons, she may be interested in fobbing off pink on men as
Part of the charm of the week . . . it feels like a makeshift event and the floor functions as the catwalk