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

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

The Duckie Brown menswear collection that hit the runway at Lincoln Center on the opening day of Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week was full of slouchy, roomy, twisted and asymmetrical garments, from the opening look, which paired a pair of gray flannel wrap trousers with a baggy sweater designed with the armholes pitched forward (resulting in a look that was somewhere between hobo clothes and a straightjacket), to the camel-colored cashmere wrap coat and deep V-neck sweater and generously cut eight-pleat trousers that closed the show.

By using a subdued color palette heavy on the shades of gray (smoke gray, charcoal gray) with white, black and one or two pops of cornflower blue, the Duckie duo of Steven Cox and Daniel Silver let the texture of the garments take center stage.

In addition to flannels, herringbones, twills and tweeds, there were shaggy shearling jackets, textured overcoats, corduroy trousers, and a speckly, nubbled fabric that appeared on sweaters and jackets.

There were two memorable pieces that took the notion of texture to opposite extremes. The first was a pearl sweatshirt -- not pearl-colored, mind you, but actual strands of the nacre-covered spheres -- and the second was a funnel-neck peacoat printed with a gray twisted sweater pattern that recalled an M.C. Escher print.

Perhaps it’ll be the perfect jacket for the guy who feels like he’s really been through the wringer.

-- Adam Tschorn in New York

Duckie Brown Fall/Winter 2011 runway photo gallery