Alexandre Plokhov has only recently started showing at NYFW. Or, it should be said, he most recently started re-showing. Alexandre’s menswear line, Cloak, was in business from 2000-2007, and he even won a CFDA award for emerging talent for rtw back in 2005. After closing Cloak in 2007, Alexandre served as Versace’s menswear designer for a few years before leaving and starting his eponymous label, which debuted last spring, and showed at NYFW last September.
His show this season showcased his love of dark everything, his incredible tailor skills, and his signature angular construction with a little more softness, all in luxe fabrics that made the mostly black garments come alive. He hates the “force-fed preppiy-ism” that is so present in most American menswear, and it shows, which is not to say that the lack of prep is a bad thing; his clothing is beautiful. He takes that preppiness he loathes and destroys it by making a trench-ish-coat with asymmetrical buttons (in black), or sending his model down the runway in a tailored blazer paired with some big jewelry and a skirt. He also throws in some leather for good measure, and to assure us, again, that he hates preppy. (Do we get it yet?) For being mostly black, the clothes has such beautiful textures and were put together so well, both in their construction and in their pairings of hard and soft.
Devil eyes.
that hair…
This menswear is a little darker, a little more rocker-punk-goth-chic, and, though not for a weekend in the hamptons, helps to fill the void left in menswear by all the pastel button downs and khaki pants. Somewhere, Rick Owens is rejoicing in having a partner in darker menswear, yet simultaneously crying because he now has a little more competition. He’s also miffed that all the models had his hair…
Twenty Three 