“As I delve further into the Tom Ford ambiance, my dance continues,” said Haider Ackermann. This pleasant metaphor for fashion creative direction was delivered pre-recorded, in a note that accompanied these recently-readied photos of a resort menswear collection glimpsed in the company’s Milan showroom way back in June. So far, Ackermann has been dedicating his Big Designer Energy to the runway shimmying of his mainline shows in Paris.
Yet even without any live movement, interaction, or context to frame it, this resort package generated some tempo. Its most urgent element was the insistent percussion of commercial imperative; this collection and its womenswear partner have been timed to go on sale very shortly after this review drops. Around this beat were framed some choral highlights articulated through color; a red suede shirt worn over a lilac sweater, a blue suede blouson over a yellow silk shirt, some dashing pink sweater and sock interplay, and a gorgeous dark electric blue raincoat were all emblematic of Ackermann’s virtuoso palette playing.
“I aim at depicting a mosaic of masculine selves,” wrote the designer, adding that his menswear is driven by “noble spirits that inhabit and bring to life my vision.” These spirit-summoned selves broke down into three broad categories. There were the formal selves in tautly cut but decadently fabricated tailoring that seemed a little skinnier than Ford’s OG Zegna-cut block, the house archetype semi-formal country club rich kid in lushly appointed preppy staples, and the aspiring roué-flaneur in robes or happily crumpled same-color separates. Writing in his collection note Ackermann pointed to “ease, nonchalance, and studied carelessness,” as the three closely-related attributes he was working to distill within this appealing resort offer.