Flowers and Fireworks: Haider Ackermann Men’s Spring 2017
Just like with his women’s line, Haider Ackermann has carved a niche for himself in menswear, a territory of luxurious, slouchy, kimono-influenced tailoring with nods to sportswear and an obsession with sloping shoulders and bare ankles.
He’s never really ventured out of this haven, and it obviously has earned him a cult following, judging from übercool attendees like Caroline de Maigret, Luka Sabbat, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, and the acolytes who greeted him at the finale of his new show.
His line-up for 2017 was truly enticing, a cocktail of pieces that seemed to be built around the languid sensuality of kimonos, which were offered in a splendid striped version, or cut in a vivid blue fabric sporting flower patterns. This fabric’s yellow version was used on shirts, or as a lapel on a white jacket with a burnt effect on one side. The varsity jackets were outstanding, in black with a firework pattern, or in tender pink with yellow ribbing.
Ackermann also came up with original pants. Some were made of tight and horizontal bands, others were striped with different colors on each leg, with double rows of belt loops, cut in a blue chessboard fabric, or stiff cropped tuxedo styles with athletic stripes down the sides.
As all these studied pieces were mixed together and worn with flat slides or brogues occasionally sporting leopard patterns, the effect was offbeat, nonchalant.
One left the Musée Galliera, the show venue, thinking how interesting it would be to see such great taste for color and sense of proportion applied to new, unexpected territories.