JERRLIFE: Alexander Wang Spring 2012 Menswear Review and Favorite Looks

via styleamor

Alright, so I've had the time to digest this collection and here are my thoughts on Alexander Wang's first full menswear collection in his mainline:

I'm a (REALLY) big fan of Alexander Wang and its great to see a next generation designer design for his peers and really get what it is we want to wear. So when I heard about this latest offering from Alexander Wang I was excited because it means more choices for us guys out there. This being a mainline allows Alexander Wang to have more freedom in designing more styles, such as jackets, and having more choices in fabrics to play around with than the T line. Unfortunately its the creativity that's lacking here since Alexander Wang wanted to design what was already familiar to men so nothing too edgy or "out there" can be found in this collection.

all photos via style

The collection is a typical menswear collection with a splash of Wang. Colour palette was limited to black, white, asphalt brown, and midnight blue. Sporty reference dominated most of the collection consisting of track jackets and sweat pants, puffers, bomber jackets, parkas, sweatshirts and hoodies. Alex also had other staples in minds including leather jackets, trench, blazers(collarless mind you), and even dress shirts. Alex also put in a couple of everyday bags: leather backpacks, messengers and a gym bag. Designwise, fabric mixing is very present and typical Wang style. Sweater sleeves on the blazers and nylon jackets, two tone jeans, and leather accents on sweaters and hoodies. It is an amped up T by Alexander Wang collection if you will. The silhouette of the collection is round not thin, off the body and not a second skin. It is a guy's guy collection.

I get Alexander Wang's vision for this collection unfortunately, its not one that speaks to me. He has said that this is not the male version of the Wang girl instead it is the guy the Wang girl goes out with. I wish he pushed more to cater to both. Many guys wear the women's line since it tends to be masculine and this line isn't the answer they were looking for. Another challenge he has is rationalizing the price. Will guys be okay with spending $400 on a sweater for working out or lofting around? Maybe the girl is suppose to gift this to him to inject some style in him. Who knows. Right now the sporty guy isn't willing to pay the price and the fashion guy isn't going to wear that track suit. Back to sifting the women's rack I guess.

I'm still a big fan so here are my picks from the collection: