Just quit from the last show of the spring/summer 07 collections, but it didn't feel like the season was over. That's because menswear at the moment is most exciting in two cities off the schedule map: London and New York. In the places we've just visited, the brands seem to peddle wares for the same sort of man: an affluent, nicely-turned-out shopoholic. There's little juice.
Often at the shows, you see what a model's wearing and think, I'd get beaten up for looking like that. Not because the look's challenging or confrontational, but because they're such sappy, nice-boy styles. I don't find it aspirational to be so stiff. Yes, that customer base must exist, but there are many men who want something with a bit more oomph.
Before the shows, I wrote that I wanted chaos, because that's the mood in London and NYC. There seems a link of attitude between New York's outlandishly coloured streetwear and the work of Cassette Playa and the other club kids of London. Importantly, London's not limited to one point of view. I know a clutch of handsome young men who style up their future-preppy look from pound-store finds, while our adopted new children, Charles, Kolin and Tamur, use flippancy as their harsh weapon.
Note that I'm not really talking about trends here. There's a reason for that: these people in London, and their equivalent in New York, are at the start of the cycle, germinating new ideas. They've no time for telling everyone else what to wear. Shows to study, if you want to see good design: Number (N)ine; Ann Demeulemeester; Raf Simons; Prada; Lanvin. Also exciting: the showroom display by Adam Kimmel, a New York designer whose work you can find at Dover Street Market. Clean, simple, individual.
· Charlie Porter is associate editor of GQ (m-f-a-s@hotmail.com).
