so, what’s going on with the menswear shows?

Menswear presentations are kind of weird and awkward on the whole. The models are usually these over-inflated, lubed-up and chisely Ken dolls, all Grecian and proportional and generally off-putting. These presentations are, I guess, necessary, since men (supposedly) have to wear clothes and evolve and have style ethoi for the new millennium too, but menswear is kind of like US foreign policy or digestion — you want to know it’s being taken care of without having to think about it or actually see it happening.

So that’s why it’s been sort of shocking to me that the menswear presentations have been pretty interesting for S/S 09. First, they borrowed some things from the girls. Like, a lot of things (see below). Then the fine specimen of a man above graced the Vivienne Westwood runway, then all the men decided to have torso tats.

So I guess it should have come as no surprise when Yohji Yamamoto sent cute little old men (one of which was Steve McQueen!!) down the runway yesterday. The thing is, even more so than Mr. Fabulous over at Viv’s show, the old guys were really refreshing. It was like seeing my dad wear something other than Hawaiian shirts and black jeans — wow what a surprise! You look good!

So I say, to menswear at large, keep up the good work. You may even have a new regular customer.