American designer Richard Chai reportedly wanted some eye candy. He wasn't talking about the male models slinking around backstage at his first-ever coed effort. After a few seasons of slightly drab palettes, Richard Chai added the zip of colors like mint and tangerine and big ripe florals for both his boys and girls. The change in mood was immediate, like downing a shot of espresso. His slouchy-serious downtown stance is at its best with a dose of happy. As he admitted, love is a learning process. Showing his men's and Love (women's) lines together was another experiment. More than ever, his menswear appeared geared to two distinct camps : the grown-up skater with perhaps a touch of meat on his bones, and the bony hipster with a high tolerance for quirk. For the former, there was a sophisticated new take on ultrawide baggy shorts to the knee and layerable mesh tee-shirts; for the latter, it was cuffed cotton trousers with boxy blazers. But the twain did meet, and often to great effect. One must-have item ? A floral-printed shirt to be found at Odin, New York, whose owner is no one else but the designer's brother, Eddy Chai.
