It was a commendable initiative for the organizers of Philippine Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012 to close the season with the Menswear segment. The men are usually marginalized in these sort of things, but this time they were given their due with a more-spectacular-than-usual show on the last day of PFW. And as much as we would have rather seen a grander collection from one of the industry's fashion design maestros close the the event, Menswear didn't disappoint. In fact, the segment enthralled us with its generous but not gratuitous (yes, really) showings of manly physiques that awakened in us a deeper appreciation for menswear. That mysterious Brazilian (?) musician—introduced vaguely as "Jay from New York"—who pounded his drum during the opening and closing of the show didn't hurt, either.
Anyway, on to the clothes. The show was peppered with a moderate assortment of tasteful suits and casual and workaday pieces for men. Because the season is of the temperate kind, colors gravitated towards the peppy type: bright yellows and blues with a sprinkling of buoyant prints. Earthy colors were also dominant, with ochre, brown, and orange appearing in a few collections, including Aries Lagat and Dodjie Batu. Naturally, neutrals tempered the palette, giving guys their usual assortment of wardrobe fillers.
For the most part, however, the selections were geared towards adventurous dressers. It takes a lot of courage and, um, pizzazz to wear a leather long-sleeved bolero and briefs combo. Or a torso-less denim jacket. Or a pouf-sleeved pullover. But we're sure the male muses these designers had in mind were—for lack of a less obvious double entendre—ballsy. After all, what is a guy-centric fashion show without some daring innovations on the often tiringly orthodox domain of menswear?
Click on these links to view the Spring/Summer 2012 collection of the following designers:
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