For this 10-year anniversary collection, Andrew Buckler shut down the block in front of his Soho store on Grand Street to show his offering and walked his darkly dressed boys on the pavement. The setting was important, the designer said after the show, because of the theme of the season : the artists "using the streets as their medium to communicate messages". No more of the Thirties German students who'd occupied him for last season, in other words. And none the worse for that, really. The mostly somber color scheme put Andrew Buckler way afield of many of his compatriots in menswear this season, but basic black isn't bad business. Neither is repeating what's worked before -specifically, a long, layered silhouette, anchored by narrow pants, some skinny through the leg; others with more volume up top before tapering around the knee. They came topped with long, cabled cardigans or tailored jackets that ranged from the casual cotton slub to a few more refined tux options in wool gabardine. The clearest hint of any street-art style was in the blast of highlighter yellow that came near the end, in paneled jeans and a blazing parka. And like street art, they had an aggressive insistence -even a welcome sort of vulgarity- that the well-behaved rest seemed to lack. Andrew Buckler did take inspiration in the urban arts. In recognition of the artists using the streets as their medium to communicate messages, discussions and where they question the conventions of art. Also in admiration of the ability to explore and exhibit the urban scape : the artist who rendered a shadow dropped by a lighting pole as a sidewalk painting, or the writings on a wall -not by paints and brush -but by water : cleaning away the dirt from exhaust and leaving the letters clear. Finally, in the anonymous artists who gift their works to the streets -to be seen by all for a moment and to remind you to live in the present and to question your surroundings.
