Edmund Ooi showed at New York Men’s Day (NYMD) presented by Cadillac.
My first impression of the Edmund Ooi collection was that the outfits seemed more like costumes in a science-fiction movie than clothes people would actually wear. That’s appropriate, I suppose, considering the collection is called “Class of 2525.” Well, somebody’s got to bring us into the Neo-Japan future cyperpunk portents (you’ve got to look good in meatspace, too). The outfits were very boxy, with harsh lines creating refrigerator-like silhouettes. These lines extended to the patterns on the clothes themselves, whether they be right angles accentuating the buttons on a coat or the outline of a sort of origami-esque crane on a sweater.
The colors were very earthy, with lots of tans, browns, and maroons, which served to make what little bright color there was really pop (good tone management). However, there were times when the layering struck me as haphazard. Now, I know that all the choices were very deliberate, but many of the choices seemed to me to be contrary to convention just for the sake of it. Overall, the collection wasn’t bad — in fact, it was at times incredibly visually interesting (as is anything outside the range of one’s everyday experience); it just struck me as relatively uninspired. With that said, here’s one for Edmund Ooi for at least daring to step outside of the box.