Damir Doma

[Chinorlz]

Wow, come on, say what you will - this is terrible.

I have to agree with Faust here.

First season Doma was interesting and pretty solid.

What am I supposed to do with that asymmetric upper torso vest thing and that sheer drapey, oddly stitched hoodie? Extra long t-shirts?

Neither is functional.

I'm quite certain that the only Doma piece I will ever own is the shorts... I'll be the first to admit that the fabric is not the greatest as Pipcleo put it in way more hilarious terms :)

[Heirloom]

Oh, okay, never thought about it in that way before. thanks for the insight ;)

seriously though, that albino look is pretty cool, in two ways. I'd be/wear that every day of the week. I don't mind being called a freak. Freaks are exciting.

[laika]

^Heirloom, your dismissal of Ann was not particularly enlightening either...you might want to offer a bit more insight yourself, if you want to actually have a discussion.

I'm so excited for this argument again.

Regardless of the no-real-man-could-wear-this argument--which is totally flimsy, imo--those showroom pics really do look like crap. The designs look really arbitrary and artless. No single garment appears to have any integrity in itself, leading me to believe the layered runway styling is compensating for a total lack of creative vision.

[lowrey]

I don't co-sign on the lack of vision, while most of it is not exactly my thing, I still think he has a concept and vision behind it. but I agree about the showroom pics, they are very bad. the runway show to me was ok, not nearly as good as f/w.

I think there will probably be some nice garments out of this collection as well. will be interesting to see what stores buy, and I'll reserve final judgement until I've seen the clothes. I'm pretty sure I wont like it as much as the last two though.

[mass]

The designs look really arbitrary and artless. No single garment appears to have any integrity in itself, leading me to believe the layered runway styling is compensating for a total lack of creative vision.

agreed 500%

[Heirloom]

I don't co-sign on the lack of vision, while most of it is not exactly my thing, I still think he has a concept and vision behind it. but I agree about the showroom pics, they are very bad. the runway show to me was ok, not nearly as good as f/w.

I agree that the showroom pictures aren't good. But damirs clothing depends on styling. They're loose shells which are meant to come alive on a wearer who has the feeling for them.

Damir is still not as revolutionary as I'd like him to be, but compared to Ann for example, he has distanced himself from the traditional shirt-blazer-slack gear men usually wear. He has newer bolder cuts and outlines on his stuff.

My problem with Ann is her watered down vision adapted to mens wear. Looking at her clothes, it feels to me like she goes out a 100% on womens wear compared to her mens wear. Like she compromises because men can't wear "sissy" clothes. It's still made from a template, with slight alterations. Spruced up basics if you will.

Bernhard Willhelm is probably the only designer I feel can stick true to his vision even in mens wear. He does construct completely new garments from scratch, with shapes that are interesting in all scales, both from a distance and in a more tactile way up close. I wish Damir could keep evolving to that instead of making a hoodie or shorts.

"I wonder what a pair of horts would look like."

Experimenting on this scale is something I find very lacking in menswear, and I fail to see how it would make clothing look more feminine. I realise that it's the softness of Damir that people don't understand, but I have always considered my presence to be of the soft kind, so a jacket wouldn't fit me like it would fit Faust for example. I don't like to consider myself to be less manly than him just because i'm more androgenous. Men have thousands of versions to pick from, all with slight variations, when buying shoes, or coats, but they rarely ever step outside the parka or dress coat or puffah jacket stencil.

I'm not looking for anyone to agree or think that damirs clothing is nice, but this discussion always comes to the fact that men aren't expected to experiment to the same degree as women, and I find that unfair.
you could argue that this discussion resembles the one of prolife or prochoice. In this case I feel that most people in here are prolife. They're bashing an option they don't need to choose.

huh, there you go, i wrote it anyway :)

[andrewislasorad]

The designs look really arbitrary and artless. No single garment appears to have any integrity in itself, leading me to believe the layered runway styling is compensating for a total lack of creative vision.

I'm really not sure that this is fair to say.

like mike said, those showroom pictures are absolutely terrible, the people dressing that model clearly have no idea what damir's aesthetic is. If you go back through the runway photos, the collection is very strong, and most of looks are not that heavily layered.

On comparing Ann's collection SS09 to Damir's offering, I must say Damir's was far more interesting and actually quite powerful. How you wear Damir clothes is everything, I think the best example of this is how Jon wears his sheer jacket for SS08. Damir's cuts are also really pushing the envelope, exploring new shapes, not just doing basic menswear, not sure who this shows a lack of creativity? I think Ann's was just very basic, nothing more than some new prints, not really that defining of a season as a whole seemed like a striped down SS08 collection, and definitely my least favorite collection from her in a while.

[casem]

We might be judging overly harshly based on the few showroom pics.

I thought the runway show was excellent, but those showroom pics are awful. There's got to be other stuff from the collection that's not so bad.

My biggest problem with DD is it seems like you must buy many pieces to get a decent look out of it but nothing stands on its own. Granted, an entire Ann D. layered look could cost as much as a car, but when I see her garments individually they stand on their own and can be worked into my wardrobe. With DD, at least in this collection, that's not so much the case.

[andrewislasorad]

My biggest problem with DD is it seems like you must buy many pieces to get a decent look out of it but nothing stands on its own. Granted, an entire Ann D. layered look could cost as much as a car, but when I see her garments individually they stand on their own and can be worked into my wardrobe. With DD, at least in this collection, that's not so much the case.

I know exactly what you mean, I find both designers often fall into this category [the two mix well together]. But these recent pictures that have surfaced are mostly of some of the more extreme pieces from the collection [for japan of course], the basic blazers, button shirts, and pants/shorts would mesh easily into any SZ wardrobe. I am in love with my DD blazer and it blends well with whatever Im wearing ann to rick to n(n)...very versatile.

[lowrey]

My biggest problem with DD is it seems like you must buy many pieces to get a decent look out of it but nothing stands on its own. Granted, an entire Ann D. layered look could cost as much as a car, but when I see her garments individually they stand on their own and can be worked into my wardrobe. With DD, at least in this collection, that's not so much the case.

I agree, this spring collection seems like something you need more layering and styling in, as opposed to the current fall collection which in my opinion has great individual pieces (hoodies, tees, vests, jackets..) that to me look much better on their own. but then again the pictures of individual garments are pretty extreme pieces like andrew said.

[croatoan]

like mike said, those showroom pictures are absolutely terrible, the people dressing that model clearly have no idea what damir's aesthetic is.

Keep in mind that pictures coming from a showroom are completely different from runway or lookbook pictures. They are probably taken by a buyer as a note to him/herself about what one specific item looks like -- it isn't going to be at all representative of a look or aesthetic.

[Chinorlz]

all we can do is just wait for what actually hits stores like others have said...

[DHC]

Keep in mind that pictures coming from a showroom are completely different from runway or lookbook pictures. They are probably taken by a buyer as a note to him/herself about what one specific item looks like -- it isn't going to be at all representative of a look or aesthetic.

slammed the nail square on the head...this is a fact that's very easy to overlook.

[ddohnggo]

slammed the nail square on the head...a fact that's very easy to overlock.

fixed for you

[DHC]

/\heehee..thanks joey! Well played sir.