Duckie Brown Spring 2014

Androgyny was the order of the day for Duckie Brown’s spring 2014 collection. Yes androgyny, but Duckie Brown’s concept of androgyny. Leikeli47’s rap “Talk like a boy, dress like a girl” forwarded Brown’s fashion-forward genderbending point of view that was heavy on a neutral palette but somewhat shy on consumer viability.

Duckie Brown’s halter tops, extended crotch trousers, and tunic aprons may be a big stretch for the male consumer outside of cosmopolitan, international fashion centers. Still, Duckie Brown’s demographic never had a penchant for American sportswear. And his audience has always been that fashion savvy downtown guy that is more concerned about setting trends than having a conventional look.

In this outing, creative directors Steven Cox and Daniel Silver chose to stay with a neutral palette and married this rather mundane color palette with looks that stretched the limits of androgyny for the male consumer. There was some genius in this point of view in that though the looks definitely expanded the definition of masculine silhouettes, there were masculine elements to most combinations.

When combined with a navy basketball extended crouch short pants/skirt, a navy halter sweatshirt has some masculine appeal. Likewise does a navy apron combined with navy, narrow trousers. I guess you can say that Daniel Silver and Steven Cox’s guy realizes that his masculinity expressed from the inside out can make garments that traditionally have a feminine appeal when tailored a certain and paired properly can take on a new type of maleness.

What also worked in this collection was Cox and Silver’s experimentation with layering. Standouts were the navy lace and white grid double Mac with navy basketball skirt and navy tab back trousers, and the navy and white strip work jacket with grey basketball skirt and grey narrow trousers.

With this collection Cox and Silver makes us examine androgyny and the pairing of masculine and feminine silhouettes in new ways. It may not be for everyone, but Duckie Brown never has been.

—William S. Gooch