Hasta La Ideas

Wilderness-inspired men’s collections

Of the many noteworthy designs to come out of 2012 Paris Fashion Week the spatially inspired Fall/Winter collections of Sruli Recht and Inaisce were particularly captivating.

Sruli Recht presented a highly spirited line of garments featuring graphics of horses running across wild Icelandic landscapes while conveying the warmth needed to face such harsh climates.

The Field Dressing collection comprises luxury-quality natural animal-based materials like felted and knotted Icelandic wool, reindeer leather, calfskin and hand-loomed satin made from single strands of horsetail hair. For his third complete menswear line, Recht employed a hunting theme, but tailoring is decidedly urban, with impeccable detail from innovative silhouettes to precise pleats.

The 35-ensemble collection centers on a color palette of rusty orange-red, black and a spectrum of beige shades. The spirit of hunting shines through in audacious accessories, from a dolphin-skin belt to bird-wing collars and glass-blown slippers. Shorts over light knit leggings were shown with transparent shirts made with spider silk. Coats feature oversized pleats and enveloping hoods and jackets stay more closely cut, offering an asymmetrical line to the overall ensemble.

New Yorker Inaisce finds his inspiration in Far Eastern wonderlands like Mongolia, Siberia, Armenia and the Silk Road for his Pilgrimage collection. His story, documented in beautiful photography, follows some kind of rough warrior traversing land and sea to reach a kind of hidden heaven.

The waterproof garments are stiff and durable outside, disguising sensuality in soft and delicate materials on the inside. Paying close attention to fabric, Inaisce plays with contrasting textures on lambskin, wolf wool, cotton, silk, fur and leather smeared with resin or carbon.

Conceived as a whole, the architectural unisex collection is highly cohesive. The wraps and coats, caftans, leather blazers, monastic tunics and warrior skirts work together seamlessly.