Rag & Bone Men’s
Plucking the good bits from one’s past and combining them with the best of one’s present is as good a place as any to find inspiration for a collection. Rag & Bone’s David Neville and Marcus Wainwright started out in England, but have long since called New York home. For fall 2011, they played up their cultural duality with an offering that merged classic British hunting looks with collegiate Americana.
It started just a tad bit late as Mad Men’s Jon Hamm was in attendance, setting many a shutter aflutter, but finished quickly. The first procession was all England: a red tartan suit, quilted hunting shirts, plus fours and kilts. Then the Americana kicked in, with baseball overshirts, leather jackets and shrunken lettermans in sporty, scholastic reds and yellows.
After the show, the designers cited the Duke of Windsor as their inspiration. (The originator of many a menswear trend over the years is said to have been behind trouser cuffs, when he folded up his pants so as not to get them muddy while on a hunt.) No doubt the good Duke would have enjoyed the nod, and perhaps even those letterman jackets. After all, he always did have a thing for Americans.