A key theme at the NY menswear shows

Last weekend’s men’s autumn/winter 2010 collections in New York were all about using texture and tailoring to distract from the economic blues, with clothes made of materials as unlikely as the polyester fibre Mylar, diamond stitch taffeta and polythylene-coated denims. After all, if the old ways have stopped working, designers might as well try something new.

So Calvin Klein, the season’s most acclaimed show, featured bizarre (and beautiful) bonded materials, with merino wool meeting plongee leather in remarkable tubular-style bomber jackets. “We want new fabrications to be functional and breathe,” said Italo Zucchelli, Klein’s men’s wear creative director, after the show. “Although I admit the Mylar trousers do tend to creak and crack when you actually try to sit down.” Zucchelli also tweaked his silhouette, part of a general move in New York towards stiffer shoulders and higher armpits.

Meanwhile, Richard Chai sent out checked shirts sprayed with abstract daubs of black paint (he called it “casual with a twist”), and Phillip Lim showed tough chic Americana, with shin guards, padded leather fencing vests and rugged Canadian Mountie coats.

Tough chic was also the leitmotif at Ralph Lauren, where the signature colour in the top range, Purple Label, was anthracite, and a key theme was “texture on texture”, meaning an industrial grey cashmere tie over a cashmere shirt. At Duckie Brown the theme was “boot boys go baronial”, with mega tartan jackets, waxed military parkas and suits and trousers cut two inches above military boots.

At GQ’s seasonal presentation of new men’s designers, Caulfield Preparatory, a rebellious Wasp label by Vincent Flumiani, showcased clothes with built-in wrinkles, as though a Scottish baron had become a posh punk idol. And Thom Browne pushed his gender-bending tendencies to an extreme, with beige knitted shift dresses over open-toed loafers with ribbons in the colours of the French flag.

Economic blues or not, however, men’s labels keep appearing in Manhattan, like pinstripes on a suit. This season, the new gang included a tailor from Morocco, Hisham Oumlil, who has developed a proprietary collar shape: a scalloped lapel seen on quilted brocade coats and a dashing cashmere knitwear smoking jacket; and Bespoken, a label developed by a five-man team that includes three sons of Turnbull & Asser owner Ali Al-Fayed.

Their take on what men should wear next winter? Padded redingotes in thorn-proof cotton, ideal for negotiating the blizzard that preceded their event. Or any other unforeseen disaster, for that matter.