Jacket Optional, Shoes Required

There's been a rising menswear movement on the horizon. Granted there have always been those rogue rebels who've never varied from the script but now it's just a matter of timing in some cases. The Goth or Avant movement in menswear is not new. Rick Owens, for example, has been offering exaggerated shapes with dark or avant aesthetics for years. So while he has always been that brilliant odd man out, he now moves on to be that still brilliant veteran inspiring others to develop otherworldly shapes, innovate with fabrics and break down the visual morays of the jacket, pant and shirt trifecta for men.

What's interesting to note is how this kind of free from dressing is like a merging of styles. It's a bit of Greek and Middle Eastern with a dash of modern, a bit futuristic a bit vintage inspired and a touch androgynous. However, the visuals are provocative, the fabrics inviting and the shapes are comfortable almost evocative of sleepwear. This is modern Goth to me and this was also Elliott Evan's Fall 2013 Mens Collection.

Free form was definitely in full effect with this collection as many garment done in leather were not finished but left with the natural meandering of the skin's edge on jacket and sleeve hems. This played in rather coolly with the wrapped leg dropped crotch trousers and swaddling effect of the collection. I say swaddling since the models has a wrapped up look to them. Swaddled like babies but with inky nylons, fade dyed, embossed and perforated skins and cottons and gravelly sweater knits, the effect was more like swaddled for modern battle like protective armor.

The Elliott Evan Fall/Winter 2013 collection was full of those avant shapes that have come to define Goth menswear just updated through insightful cut and layering. The mystery, the intrigue, the drama was there which makes a collection like this so different from say that of a nattily tailored suit collection. However, peaked lapel or not, it's still menswear, and it represents a dynamic of change in which more men are gravitating towards as the liberation in mens clothing continues.

Dave White

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Peruse through many of the high fashion magazines and you will oftentimes find that they have fallen victim to what much of popular culture has undergone. There is such a propensity to offer the latest, the fresh, the new and the 'it' thing that art and design often takes a backseat to hype and hysteria. However, the art and design is there. This is were the dignity in fashion lies. As stated, that dignity often takes a back seat in order to keep up with the times but when the chance really springs up for it to be showcased, it's kismet. Part of the artistry and the design genius that is showcased is the way in which it seamlessly integrates itself with the world of business and comes full circle from art that fosters inspiration to art that also makes profit.

Part of the formula and what marks real skill is that seamless way in which you don't even realize that you've been offered something so artistic, so inspired, so methodical yet also so sellable, so wearable and so marketable. This is a formula that Ralph Rucci has been succeeding at for 30+ years. The subject of museum installations, a documentary film and countless awards from peers and other fashion professionals, Rucci is the truly driven designer.

The greatest accolades are the countless women who continue to wear his designs. He creates his designs with a nods to a meticulous craftsmanship that pulls a woman's form, inspired design lines motivated by emotion, geometry, nature and architecture and exquisite textile together to create works that move past skin deep. What Ralph Rucci does for Chado is emotionally charged from a man attuned to his eye and his craft.

For Fall 2013 Rucci takes Chado up to the curve, literally. Curved lines that were slight and quite geometric led the collection in very attractive ways. In Rucci's hand the geometry was less literal due to the skill of his tailoring and the way lines were sliced, pieced with contrasting textiles, wrapped around the body on outerwear, snaked up the backs of dresses and effortlessly lent a soft mobile accent to fitted sleeves. His variety of wools like cashmeres, crepes and jerseys and were soft and fluid to the point of ethereal while his mink and sable furs were executed with a light feathery hand. These fabrications adorned stellar ready to wear pieces like chic day suits in colors like citrus and violet and amazing evening wear that was at once ornate and beautiful with irreverent embellishments like velvet and leather and double-faced wool gowns.

The standing ovation from the crowd was not unexpected as the beauty of gorgeous clothing moves, inspires and deserves to be applauded. The accolades aren't necessarily for what everyone has just seen; more for what they've just been privy to experience.