Traveller of both time and space...

Haider Ackermann

So in case you haven't yet heard Haider Ackermann, he of the draped leather blouson and sylph-like bias cuts, is launching a menswear line. Honestly the only reason I'm posting about it now as opposed to a month ago when it was first announced is because at the time the only thing I had to say was "OMGSTFU". That doesn't really make for the best blog post, you know? Apparently I missed a vital bit of info somewhere along the line though, because I was caught completely by surprise when I saw photos of his very first menswear presentation shown just yesterday at the Pitti Uomo shows in Florence. Not a half bad surprise at the end of the day, let me tell you.

I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what Ackermann's menswear would look like. After all, his women's collections do often have a slight androgyny to them. I was expecting lots of layers that mix tailoring and fluidity, pretty much monochrome colors, and lots of textures. In a nutshell I was really just envisioning more masculine takes on his feminine trademarks, and honestly that vision had me quite thrilled to see the results. While these preview clothes weren't a completely unforeseen curve ball, I have to say they're also not quite what I pictured, and I mean that in the best possible way. The clothing had a vague exoticism, kind of North African harem meets East Asian opium den, but with a decidedly Western sensibility. Silk robes, cropped trousers in brocade, patterned wool, and striped silk, slouchy shirts worn draped into belts and some gorgeous jackets with their sleeves pushed up to the elbow (naturally) were mixed and matched to great effect.

Even though there are multiple layers going on, none of the looks appear particularly heavy to me. I like the kind of adventurous vibe running through it. It makes me think of a man picking up different things during his travels that don't quite go and wearing them together; the black leather hooded vest paired with blood red brocade trousers with a gold pattern woven into them is a great example of that. Now, this being menswear I am of course looking at it with the question of "would I wear it" in the back of my mind. While I don't know that I could ever pull off the total Ackermann look (and frankly I don't think most men will have the élan needed to pull these looks off completely), I can absolutely picture myself trying to adapt it somehow. Not that that's hard, per se; some of the pieces are just downright lust-worthy (I'm thinking of that leather vest in particular). All in all it's a promising debut, and certainly enough of a tease to hold people's interest. You can be sure I'm looking forward to more.

all photos from style.com