Collective Fashion-Consciousness

(NEW YORK) Take a look at part one of The Daily's coverage from last week's ENK Collective, where menswear lines, buyers, stylists, editors, and trend forecasters gathered at Pier 94 for a summit on what's to come in menswear.

Suave Italians arrived in droves and congregated in the Made in Italy section organized by Ente Moda Italia. Featuring men's lines from Italo Ferretti, Facenti, Messori, Perofil, Ravazzolo, Borsalino, By Bilancioni, Intermoda-Gallieni and more. Many headed to The Daily Lounge to use complimentary Vonage phones to call home.

BoConcept set up the lounge, where Collective-goers flocked for fodder like mini-burgers from POP Burger, POM tea and Tanqueray, and Altoids to freshen up. It was a prime spot to mix, mingle, and map out destination booths to hit up, and meeting interesting designers old and new gave insight as to what to expect in menswear trends.

Sir Drake debuted ties, suspenders and polos emblazoned with logos like flying pigs and black sheep. Twenty-one year old president Paul V. Longo and his cousin and chainman, Topper Luciani had a great first time at The Collective. "We couldn't believe the amount of cool stuff that was for sale there," said Luciani. "We can only compare it to Willy Wonka's factory for traditional menswear. Our stuff was obviously the chocolate river but everything else there was incredible also."

Trend: Slickly styled corporate-chic inspiration from the 80's "Greed is Good" era. See movies like Wall Street and American Psycho.

Robert Mazzucchelli CEO of both Niformis and Roberto Da Carrara, the former is a unique tailored Italian shirt line in its seventh season, the latter a hybrid between couture and made-to-measure on the highest end of men's clothing with Brioni/Kiton price points. "For the guy who can buy anything-Roberto Da Carrara is a line he'll want to look at," said Mazzucchelli. "We took design ideas and handmade the collection for something that is as special as you can buy."

Trend: A move toward tailored clothing mixed in a casual way. The jacket is strong again, and tailored pants are replacing denim even in non-work circumstances. Casting back to the Rat Pack days, men are once again dressing up to go out.

"The Collective had a cool European vibe," said Jose Copin, president of sales of ODM watches. "It's more laid back than the other shows-cooler and more civilized. It's nice and manageable for a small company like ourselves. We felt a better presence and better working conditions than at the other trade shows."

Trend: Men's gifts other than cufflinks and shoe-shine kits. The Troika line has nice leather accessory games and flasks that buyers were very excited about.

However, Babette Wasserman London's retro-mod cufflinks featured bright geometric gems with clean lines and smooth finishes. The Hamlet line with mother-of-pearl skulls brought a posh-punk flavor to the collection.

Trend: Inspiration of '60s sharp tailoring and Technicolor glam. See films Get Carter, Escape from Alcatraz, and Harlequin.

"Our brand new line Community did really well," said Community and Martin Gordon president Marty Gordon. "We had a very good show and were surprised how many new customers we got. We did really well with the best stores in the country-Rothmans, Mario's, Mitchell's, Scott Hill, Fred Segal, Lisa Kline, Rosey Jeeks, Boyds, everyone."

Trend: From head to toe, it's still all about linen. There was a tremendous trend towards shorts and woven shirts picking up over knits again. The color thing is calming down now; it's all very soft and neutral.

Metro men relaxed in the mini John Allan's Club at The Collective, where they offered haircuts, manicures, and shoe shines in leather club chairs, as well as relaxing hot towel stations-with cold towels Monday to help beat the heat. The billiards table and leather chairs and couches gave hard-working folks a place to relax.

Trend: Men are becoming more receptive and open to new grooming practices. Men who used to come in just for a haircut and shoe shine are trying manicures, becoming more comfortable taking care of themselves and paying themselves some much-needed attention.

Tune in tomorrow for the rest of our ENK Collective coverage and don't miss a moment of menswear fabulousness!
ANGELA GAIMARI