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September 5, 2008

Maybe it’s their roots in denim, but Marcus Wainwright and David Neville’s success feels so utterly tagged to America that it’s easy to forget they’re both from England. That misapprehension was well and truly addressed with this new collection, in which they surrendered to the allure of England’s ultra-style tribes, the mods, the rockers, and their bastard skinhead and punk offspring. They’re scarcely the first designers to do so—Neil Barrett and Costume National’s Ennio Capasa have both heeded the call in recent seasons. And if Rag & Bone might suffer a little by comparison, the mod/rocker narrative thread is so innately strong that it gave Wainwright and Neville’s latest collection a real coherence and energy.

The rocker element was represented by biker leathers and zippered jeans, or a jacket-and-jeans outfit in indigo denim. Mod was covered by an elongated Edwardian-style jacket, a shrunken schoolboy-proportioned suit in tweed, or a khaki parka. (The only thing missing was the Union Jack bull’s-eye.) The plaid shirt with the tiny button-down collar worn with suspenders, cropped pants, and boots was quintessential early seventies skin. But the designers had the smarts to bring the whole idea forward a little by introducing Joy Division’s Ian Curtis (or Anton Corbijn’s version of him) into the mix. The circle is unbroken.

— Tim Blanks