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New York Fashion Week: Gilded Age, Duckie Brown and Libertine

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

This post has been updated and corrected. See the note below for details.

The first handful of fall and winter 2012 menswear shows and presentations at New York Fashion Week were a mixed bag.

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First out of the gate, on Wednesday, was Gilded Age, with a collection inspired by the early years of motorcycle racing, which, in addition to a range of beautifully distressed and weathered looking leather jackets, included hand-sanded and overdyed selvage denim, chunky sweaters and biker-worthy T-shirts.

But the big news for the brand, founded by principal director and creative director Stefan Miljanic, was the addition of footwear to mix, with Gilded Age’s take on classic American boot styles being handmade in Missouri as part of an ongoing collaboration with Chippewa Boots. (Because the co-branded footwear wasn’t ready in time for the Feb. 8 presentation, Ugg Australia stepped in to provide shoes for the models.)

More collaboration news wasn’t far behind. On Thursday, less than an hour before Duckie Brown’s runway show took place, Perry Ellis International announced that a collaborative effort with the Duckie duo of Steven Cox and Daniel Silver, called Perry Ellis by Duckie Brown, will make its debut at September’s round of New York Fashion Week shows, and hit retail for spring 2013. It marks the first apparel collaboration for both companies, though Duckie Brown has had a long-running hit with co-branded Florsheim footwear.

But Duckie Brown’s fall and winter 2012 runway collection was all them. Dubbed ‘Super Duckie,’ it served up super-sized, side-pleated trousers; trim, tailored, double-breasted jackets; slouchy sweaters; and chunky caps. The collection was heavy on the herringbones, Donegal tweeds and buffalo checks with a color palette rooted in black and shades of gray with the occasional accent of orange of purple, most notable in an exploded plaid pattern overcoat. The combination of the voluminous silhouette and gray plaid pattern gave several pieces a pajamas-as-streetwear vibe, an effect only heightened by the Edward Scissorhands bedhead hairstyles supported by many of the models.

Libertine, which sent men’s and women’s looks down the runway, applied a liberal dose of pailletes, sequins and dime-sized, flat-head studs to both. The men’s side of the collection included a range of vintage-looking outerwear pieces -- varsity jackets, leather motorcycle jackets, overcoats and blazers embellished with embroidery, the aforementioned studding or a stippled ombre effect.

But it was the women’s pieces that were the most memorable -- and labor intensive -- with delicate black lace dresses, paillette tree branches snaking across blouses and dress sleeves, and lots of outerwear pieces studded with hardware.

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RELATED:

New York Fashion Week: Gilded Age takes flight

New York Fashion Week: It’s twist and slouch at Duckie Brown

New York Fashion Week Fall-Winter 2011: Libertine back on the scene

-- Adam Tschorn

Top photos: Menswear looks from the fall and winter 2012 runway collections of, Gilded Age, left, Duckie Brown, center, and Libertine, shown during New York Fashion Week. Credit: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

[For the record, 8:42 a.m. Feb. 13: An earlier version of this post identified the brand of footwear in a photograph as Chippewa Boots. The brand was Ugg Australia.]

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