Steven Alan.

For some reason, I’ve always been glad to start the men’s portion of New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with the Steven Alan presentation. His work seems to be a study in unfussiness, a virtue that so often gets lost in hems and threads of other designers. But such is perhaps a testament to Alan’s fashion background, which began in 1994 with the opening of the Steven Alan Showroom. Soon, he came to be seen as a curator of casual American fashion, and when he started his own collections several years later, it was through this curatorial prowess — and presence — that he carved his niche in the menswear market, by revisiting the vocabulary of American casual in an eminently easy-to-wear way. And this morning’s presentation proved no exception. Read more at Paper magazine.

NUMBER:Lab.

With the first official day of New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week well underway, we now turn to the sporting set, with yesterday’s NUMBER:Lab show at the Standard Hotel’s Highline Ballroom. The line was launched in 2007 by Luis Fernandez, a former architect, and business partner Greg Lawrance, and Fernandez was recently announced as having been selected to participate in the next class of the CFDA Fashion Incubator. Read more at Paper magazine.

Tim Coppens.

When it comes to menswear, I usually tend to pass hasty judgment on anything that might be considered high concept, and am generally wary of collections that include either voluminous pants or tunic shirts. And yet, it was the work of high concept Belgian designer Tim Coppens, whose collection included both of the aforementioned garments, that I found to be the most compelling at yesterday’s shows. In fact, even though the week is still young, I’m ready to call his collection a favorite. Read more at Paper magazine.

Duckie Brown.

It’s good to see designers marching to the beat of their own drums. In the case of Messrs Steven Cox and Daniel Silver of Duckie Brown, that drum seemed to herald a post-industrial utilitarianism for the men of spring 2012. Yesterday’s show began on a heavy note — nylon stealth bomber jackets and sleeveless matched with dramatically pleated trousers, presented in monochromatic waves of black. Read more at Paper magazine.

Billy Reid.

Yesterday at Milk Studios, Alabama-based, CFDA Award winning-designer Billy Reid presented his Spring/Summer 2012 collection in a setting meant to invoke the inspiring force behind his latest work — the American songwriter. Read more at Paper magazine.

Antonio Azzuolo.

Far too often do we — those who write reviews — get stuck in our heads about what we want to say — we are in a rush, attempting to capture staccato glimpses of any given collection, trying to remain coy and aloof, framing our praise and criticism in trends or themes, in the color of a shirt or the fit of a coat. For various reasons, we often fail to express what’s really on our minds. These were the thoughts I had when I attended yesterday’s presentation of Antonio Azzuolo’s a.a. collection at Milk Studios. Read more at Paper magazine.

Robert Geller.

Robert Geller, who formerly worked with Alexandre Plokhov on the preeminent Cloak label, brought a sense of stark yet crisp moodiness to yesterday’s menswear proceedings, with a collection that in some ways reminded me of Plokhov’s now defunct line, but that was decidedly Geller’s own. Read more at Paper magazine.

Simon Spurr.

For some reason, at Simon Spurr’s S/S ’12 show yesterday, my eyes kept wandering to the backs of the suits, almost as a technical afterthought. Fine tailoring, you see, is as much about the front of a suit as it is the back, about the hang of the shoulder, or the lay of the padding. Read more at Paper magazine.

Carlos Campos.

For spring, it seems that the cool thing to do has been to go heavy, or moody, or dark. Breaking from this sartorial doom and gloom was yesterday’s Carlos Campos presentation, where we were reminded that spring can be about color, and that those colors can sometimes be vibrant. Read more at Paper magazine.

Michael Bastian.

Having taken last season off to design his inaugural line for GANT, yesterday marked Michael Bastian’s return to the runways. While previous collections delved into the worlds of Andalucían cowboys and Latin American jefes, the Gant collaboration seems to have Bastian thinking about sartorial themes of the American male. And, judging from yesterday’s expansive 43 look collection, he’s been thinking — and designing — in overdrive. How lucky we are for it. Read more at Paper magazine.

GANT by Michael Bastian.

Yesterday, The Park was partially transformed into a tropical jungle as Michael Bastian, fresh off the heels of showing his S/S ’12 menswear line, presented his latest collection for GANT. Aptly titled “Sunshine Days,” the collection was inspired by the Hawaiian Islands, an interesting prospect considering Bastian had never been to Hawaii. Instead, the designer relied on his pop-culture knowledge of the island, which largely came from the television show The Brady Bunch. Read more at Paper magazine.

Adam Kimmel + Carhartt Celebration.

When an invitation arrived for a celebration of the collaboration between Adam Kimmel, the American-born and Italian-studied menswear designer, and Carhartt, the workwear manufacturers, into the night I went. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Rad Hourani.

It’s perhaps difficult to distinguish between the genderless and the unisexual, let alone to render this distinction in clothes. But therein lies the work of designer Rad Hourani, who describes this concept as “gender agnosticism” — as in, there are genders, but not as we know them or wear them. Read more at Paper Magazine.

VMan Party.

It wouldn’t be a #NYFW (for those of you not on Twitter, that’s “New York Fashion Week”) without a Visionaire Magazine party, and this season, they teamed up with not-yet-opened Mondrian Soho to celebrate the 21st Issue of VMan. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Simon Spurr.

The immaculately tailored collection had an equestrian theme, from the distressed leather cavalry jackets with gold buttons, to the gray flannel vests paired with long fingerless gloves, to the horsehair tassels — perhaps talismans — hung from the waists of several outfits. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Ken: The Ultimate Dream Date.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America teamed up with Christie’s to play host to Ken: The Ultimate Dream Date, a menswear-meets-art exhibition of Barbie’s main squeeze. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Antonio Azzuolo.

With the countless snowpocalypses we’ve experienced this season (meaning the past few months, and not necessarily the current runway showings), what an unexpected yet immense pleasure it was to step into the presentation of Antonio Azzuolo’s a.a. collection. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Andrew Buckler.

The collection included graffiti artist overalls and zigzag striped shirts, while bright yellow jackets and pants added a touch of brightness to the slushy streets. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Rag & Bone After-Party.

Late last night — and well into the early hours of this morning – Messrs Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, the creative duo behind the fashion line Rag & Bone, led a team of revelers. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Tim Hamilton.

Billy Corgan once posited that the world is a vampire. If such eventually becomes the case, then Tim Hamilton‘s fall 2011 collection, as it was presented last night at the Standard Hotel’s ballroom, would have seemed perfect for every well-outfitted count. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Steven Alan.

The clothes had an easy, agrarian feel to them, as though a group of exceedingly dapper hippies had ditched school and headed to the central plains of Montana, just in time for the fall, seen in his reversible vests and gusset pants paired with knit ankle gaiters. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Bar III.

There once was a time when the term “blogger chic” evoked images of oversized sweatshirts and unwashed hair. Not anymore. Last night, a who’s who of the Internet elite gathered to celebrate the launch of the pop-up store for Bar III, a Macy’s exclusive men’s and women’s collection based on the blog style philosophies. Read more at Paper Magazine.

A Brooding Band of Outsiders.

With the dark and beige that has cast its pall over most of the Spring Summer 2011 collections, a wonderful thing it is to step into Scott Sternberg‘s world. From the bleachers to the beaches to the boarding school dormitory, Saturday’s Band of Outsiders presentation was a study in brooding pensiveness. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Antonio Azzuolo’s Strongest Collection Yet.

Spring/Summer certainly did seem to be the season for Antonio Azzuolo and his a.a. Collection. Over the past several years, the gifted designer, previously of Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label, Hermés, and Kenzo, has sewn out a niche for himself in the upper echelons of menswear. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Michael Bastian’s Mercenary Style.

A militaristic thread seems to be running through all the clothes that menswear designer Michael Bastian so expertly makes. At yesterday’s show, Bastian left the relative safety of last spring’s gaucho mountaintops for the warmer, more aquatic feel of this season’s collection. Read more at Paper Magazine.

ONCE AGAIN, WE FIND OURSELVES AMIDST the glamour and excitement that is New York Fashion Week—the shows! the clothes! the parties! the celebrities! the grinding out of four to six articles per day, for eight days running, after having dosed oneself with enough Venti Soy Cappuccinos to fell a bull elephant. Or, at least, so be the evidence as found on my work desk from last Fashion Week, pictured above. Aside from the image, other extended thoughts on the matter may be found here.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Fashion Week,

GB, HR.

The Original Fashion Week Thesaurus.

Though blogging-about-blogging has been my default “lazy blogger” category, the Fictionarium was transformed into a Fashionarium for this past week, and it’s been nothing short of a madhouse. Thus, I thought it might be a fine idea to provide a wrap-up of the flurry of tweets that I twaught, shows that I covered, and articles that I wrote, with the added nugget of  the original hand-written Fashion Thesaurus (pictured above). And so, for those of you didn’t catch my very, very annoying link updates on Facebook, I’ve included everything below. Click, comment, enjoy.

“Under the Big Top”

Last year, a friend referred me to a freelance gig covering most of the shows at Bryant Park. I’ve found nothing quite so fascinating as the eight days I spent picking Empire waists out of a line-up. Read more at The Huffington Post.

Antonio Azzuolo’s a.a. Collection.

It was all about shorts and suits chic at Antonio Azzuolo’s a.a. Spring/Summer presentation. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Rag & Bone.

On or about March 1910, the apocalypse came during a horseback ride through Wiltshire. Read more at HintMag.

Generra.

If muted, khaki colored simplicity is the marching order of the day, then what of a brand known for their thermochromic, hypercolor T-shirts of the early 1990s? Such is the question for Swaim Hutson. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Loden Dager.

It seems that this season, the boys of Loden Dager have abandoned the clambakes and beach breaks of the coast for the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, if not Marrakesh. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Band of Outsiders.

The Band of Outsiders show was a welcome escape from the perpetual drizzle that has been plaguing New York as of late, and not just for the beach and sunshine themed presentation. Read more at Paper Magazine.

Michael Bastian.

With del Potro’s machine gun forehand leading him to victory at last night’s US Open, how very appropriate it was that yesterday’s Michael Bastian show proved to be a three act match, and a great one at that. Read more at Paper Magazine.