Someday your prints will come
Purge the plaid. Sack the stripes,” I told myself.
Given my insatiable energy for the new, new, new — coupled with just a whiff of nostalgia — it was only a matter of time before I felt trapped in the cul-de-sac of my wardrobe, which by then could’ve belonged to an Oxford-educated lumberjack. Even when paired with defiantly crazy-looking pieces by Belgian designers, the chambray shirts, khakis and Red Wing boots I had relied on for two years — and yes, my go-to plaids and stripes — suddenly seemed so unimaginative that they looked as if they’d emit snoring sounds if you held them to your ear. With eyes rolled upward in despair, I asked myself: “What the hell do I wear next?” Then the answer came, initially, from my iPod.
I had just downloaded Pala, the latest Friendly Fires album, and I was practically knocked backward by the gust of feel-good, highly danceable electro. (For something that was named after the doomed utopia of English writer Aldous Huxley’s novel Island, Pala certainly evokes an eternal spring break atmosphere.) I’ve liked the British band since they released “Paris” in 2007 and “Jump In The Pool” in 2008, but this set of 11 tunes made me love them. Not only do I sing their songs out loud now, I do so with my eyes closed and with my hand clutching my chest. It’s that bad.
An Antidote To Tiresome Workwear
When the video for “Hawaiian Air,” the second single, made its debut a month later, in June, the sartorial message on virtually every track on Pala became loud and clear: Hawaiian shirts. I may not support copycat dressing, but seeing frontman Ed Macfarlane in the touristy garment made me want to sport one, too. It was as if the holy trinity of dance music, menswear, and vibrant beach culture came together to provide an antidote to tiresome workwear.
Cut close to the body, the olive and pink California-print short-sleeved shirt I spotted on the Friendly Fires singer — he has been photographed in it quite a few times already — is by Marc by Marc Jacobs. I Googled and discovered, to my dismay, that the item has sold out. On the other hand, I found out that there were similar offerings from other designers, as many of this year’s Spring/Summer catwalk collections, from D&G to Jil Sander, championed luau-style florals for men.
“The best clothing inspires fear,” wrote Cintra Wilson, my favorite ex-New York Times style columnist. To wiggle out of a rut, sometimes one has to embrace the unhip and the somewhat clownish. A Hawaiian shirt, though kitschy and tacky, can be worn with real success if it’s slim, has its sleeves rolled up, and is teamed with a woven belt, faded skinny jeans, beat-up brogues and a drunken demeanor. Frankly, not everyone knows how to coordinate busy prints, so I don’t expect everyone to walk around in it (which is a bonus), but this is still a leap of faith worth taking.
Zeitgeisty
“Hawaiian Air” and Ed Marfarlane’s shirt may be zeitgeisty, but the trend of using prints inspired by the Pacific, the French Riviera and California is set to continue until next year. The men’s Spring/Summer 2012 collections in Paris, which wrapped last month, featured more iterations. Givenchy had pieces that featured bird-of-paradise designs; Jean-Paul Gaultier ripped Hawaiian floral prints from tourist T-shirts and reworked them into dress shirts, trousers and sports jackets; and there were even dolphins on some items by Viktor & Rolf Monsieur.
In Print In Fashion, a 2006 book that examines the synergy between garment and textile, Consuelo Castiglioni of the Italian label Marni was quoted: “I see this general drift towards print as a reaction to formal constraints. I feel this might be a tendency of the moment because of a diffused search for an eclectic, upbeat and fun fashion.” For now, at least, I’m done with plaids, stripes and somber solid colors. Who said life always has to be so serious?
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