Los Angeles-based brand Second/Layer, has become the menswear brand on everyone’s lips, embracing the blurred lines in dress and demonstrating that the old rules no longer apply.
Designers Joshua Willis and Anthony “Ant” Franco presented their Spring ’17 collection at New York Fashion Week: Men’s on July 14. Second/Layer has been celebrated for its California style, the enviable laid-back cool that’s desired internationally, but Willis and Franco add additional complexities. The brand contrasts the youthful feel of moto jackets and frayed denim with a more sedate, retro color palette and mature patterns, including brocade, plaids and stripes.
The collection also picks up on the genderless design that is now becoming the new normal. At the Fashion Week presentation, female models were scattered in with the men, wearing crewneck sweatshirts like skirts around their waists.
Overall, the line is a series of complementary contradictions—simultaneously boyish and feminine, youthful and sophisticated, attention-grabbing but in a subtle way.
