In 2022, we created a list of the 25 most influential postwar women’s wear collections. To curate a similar list for men’s wear, we first assembled a distinguished panel of jurors: Colombian-born French fashion designer Haider Ackermann; Emily Adams Bode Aujla, the American founder of Bode, known for its vintage-inspired menswear. T’s men’s style director, David Farber; New York-based stylist and creative consultant Carlos Nazario and Canadian photographer and creative director Tommy Ton.
In April, the group gathered for a nearly three-hour video call to discuss the merits of 50 collections, with each juror advocating for about ten they had nominated in advance. While some favorites emerged four jurors included at least one collection from Giorgio Armani and Comme des Garçons, there were also surprising choices, such as selecting Helmut Lang over minimalist contemporaries Calvin Klein and Jill Sander. The discussion sparked challenging questions, such as whether it was fair to place Abercrombie & Fitch, a mall retailer with a controversial history, alongside designers like Junya Watanabe and Dries Van Noten.
As we worked to narrow the list, we aimed to assess each collection’s impact whether it redefined the suit’s silhouette or challenged conventional notions of “dressing like a man.” While the final selections were inevitably subjective, we established some guidelines: similar to the women’s wear list, which used Christian Dior’s postwar New Look as a loose benchmark, any collections before 1945 were excluded. Additionally, collections did not need to have been presented on a runway. The panel agreed to omit the designs of its members, a difficult task given Bode Aujla’s recognition as men’s wear designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in both 2021 and 2022, and Ackermann’s recent appointment as the creative director of Tom Ford, known for his romantic draping and sharp customizing.
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