Max n’ Chester’s Fall/Winter 2017 collection was inspired by the impact of music on fashion throughout the decades. This influence is most visible in the collection’s grunge and punk inspired elements, which imbue the brand’s sophisticated looks with a bohemian character.
As a result of designer Peter Trainor’s family tailoring tradition and his passion for Japanese textiles, the brand is strongly committed to craftsmanship and authenticity. Though they are designed in New York City, all pieces are then produced using superior Japanese manufacturing techniques as well as the highest quality Japanese fabrics. The fabrics used in the Fall/Winter 2017 collection tend to be unexpectedly playful or casual in the context of its meticulously tailored designs. Thick stripes, polka dots, camouflage, and a wide range of textures add a youthful, contemporary dimension to timeless silhouettes like fitted suits and boxy coats. Military details give dressier pieces a more rugged feel, and oversizing and relaxed knits are interspersed among the collection’s structured fashions to offset their rigidity.
[slideshow]Max n’ Chester excels in the tasteful layering of shirts, vests, blazers, sweaters, and coats by bringing together a diverse assortment of prints and textures that share a muted color scheme, and the resulting ensembles show that each article of clothing can be dressed up or down, as well as worn in different weather conditions, depending on how it is styled. A few of the looks are modeled by women, demonstrating that the garments on display are not confined to menswear. As a whole, the collection embraces versatility; beyond an assembly of individual looks, the collection can also be imagined as a singular wardrobe from which any one piece can be sensibly worn with another. The collection’s aptness for mixing and matching invites the wearer to join the designer in his creative process.
Practical without being conventional, comfortable without being shapeless, elegant without being formal, and cohesive without being homogenous, Max n’ Chester’s ensembles exemplify a key element of their Japanese aesthetic influence: balance.
Photos by Reyna Wang
