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• Hugo Boss challenges crisis aesthetic - 2009 new fashion

  
  23 January 2009
  

  2009 new fashion -Hugo Boss challenges crisis aesthetic

  PARIS – The Paris menswear collections kicked off Thursday with a bold, graphic display by Hugo, Hugo Boss that challenged the crisis-driven back-to-the-basics aesthetic that largely dominated the recent menswear shows in Milan.

  Hugo art director Bruno Pieters married a 1960's silhouette with tailored, futuristic cuts to create a mod-does-the-Matrix look. Skinny ties and matchstick pants were paired with origami-cut capes. Slim-fitting cropped matador jackets topped high-waisted trousers that were ample through the hips and thighs.

  Black and white checks, stripes and tight herringbone weaves were layered to an almost dizzying, optic effect.

  The result was an innovative but not necessarily marketable display — a risk as other labels have aimed to ride out the financial crisis by focusing on the classic and commercially viable suit.

  American actor Vincent Gallo hailed the show — the label's first menswear display in Paris — as "avant garde."

  "I was startled a bit by the work because it was a bit of an extreme aesthetic," said Gallo. He added that creating such a statement look was the mission of Hugo, Hugo Boss' more creative, high end line.

  Pieters, a Belgian designer known for his challenging designs who took the reins at the German suitmaker in 2007, played with volume, pairing slim cut, Mao-collared sports coats with trousers that zipped at the ankle for a slim silhouette. Other looks went bulky, with oversized, with wool coats and low-waist crutch pants.

  Voluminous hooded capes that looked like they'd been plucked of a Benedictine friar gave the models a monastic quality that was right at home in the show's venue, a 15th century former monastery in central Paris.

   

  (Yahoo news)