The Capsule Show graduated to larger digs near New York’s Chelsea Piers this season, enabling it to accommodate 150 vendors of premium sportswear and accessories. Even amid so much diversity, a few distinctive themes emerged.
The vintage workwear trend is going strong for another season, but with a sharp focus on military — easily the most dominant trend. Olive green army fatigues, laden with cargo pockets, materialized in collection after collection. Penfield’s sported a brown corduroy collar. Won Hundred’s came with a removable vest. Relwen designer Jamie Rupp was meticulous about the stitching so that the seams acquired just the puckered effect he wanted. British label Maharishi fused desert fatigues with North African references.
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The Swedish label Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair found the inspiration for its whole collection in the utility of an army jacket, but applied the functional features, such as extended pockets, as decorative elements.
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A lot of collections featured camouflage, from the classic version to the modern, pixilated type, and not always in the most natural colors. Designer John Bartlett, who is staging a comeback to the wholesale arena, developed a camo pattern out of a dog silhouette (his logo) and rendered it in a range of scales and colors. Sailor stripes were equally popular.
On one hand, Capsule brands indicated a thoroughly dressed-down season ruled by washed and unstructured clothes, including acres of faded denim, chambray and sweatshirt jersey. But it was not solely about the working-class hero. On the contrary, there was also a cheerful remix of prep, especially evident in woven shirts that came in countless iterations of madras, gingham and oxford stripe, which were often scrambled into patchworks or color blocks.
And when it came to beachwear, the mood shifted to one of sun-bleached nostalgia. Reyn Spooner, riding a resurgence of vintage Polynesian prints, delved into its archives. Riviera Club took things to a laid-back extreme, channeling the sun-bleached look of Baja California beach bums, down to their serape stripe hoodies.