David Hart Spring 2016

In this inaugural season of New York Fashion Week: Men’s (NYFWM), New York Fashion Week Mensday has continued it trajectory from the past three seasons of presenting a collage of 12 menswear designers in one space over the course of one day. Sponsored by Cadillac, this assemblage of menswear designers, many of which are gaining traction in the ever-expanding menswear market, may have be one of the highlights of the newly knighted NYFWM. (And not just because there are so many menswear designers showing at one time.)

What is so genius about this menswear collective is the fashion cornucopia of different design aesthetics, variations of male silhouettes, and projections on where menswear is heading. All this excitement and creativity housed under one roof, on one day. Who could ask for anything better?

That said: David Hart’s spring 2016 collection was one of the highlights of the morning session. Inspired by the Bauhaus and such design artists of that era including Anni Albers and Gunta Stolzi, as well as the radical photography of Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Hart ingeniously weaved a kaleidoscopic patchwork of primary colors, pastels, graphics, and geometric prints expressed in his penchants for casual American sportswear that reflects Art Deco and easy, lush life of Miami and Cuban club life of the 1940s and 50s.

Incorporating a marsupial pouch into the front pocket area of the men’s short was a fashion forward and utilitarian way of modernizing the standard American sportswear short trousers. And Hart’s paring of graphic and geometric printed tuxedo jackets with primary color slim slacks was divine, as well as editorial gold.

This collection, though not necessarily breaking any no ground in menswear, elevates Hart’s oeuvre for American sportswear that pays homage to Miami club life of a bygone era to a level of retail relevance and accessibility. Hart is on the right track, and has fond a unique to combine exciting color combinations, graphic patterns married with American sportswear that can bring some much needed effervescence and vitality to American menswear terrain.

—William S. Gooch