Billy Reid is something of an anomaly, a happy outlier on the New York men’s scene. Sure, he’s got two bustling stores in Manhattan and another on the way in Chicago (which he says has taken an agonizing six years to make happen). But for the most part, Reid revels in his differentness.
That meant a particularly “soft, less fussy” direction for Spring, set to a lone acoustic guitar. As evidence, before the show Reid scrunched the lapel of a model’s jacket tightly with his hand before releasing it to its original mien. “That’s some butter-soft suede,” he said. The twangy Alabamian has also been experimenting with “easy tweeds,” as well as cotton-silk blends, knotted terry, and jacquard knits. Those busy jacquards were a highlight of the collection. They depicted abstracted mosaic scenes of nature: leaves, everglades, fossil shells, and what the designer called a “sea garden.” Each of them was worked, reworked, and reworked some more before being sent off for sampling in Italy.
Reid mostly kept to his signature cream, earth, and oatmeal color palette. “Never be afraid of neutrals,” he intoned. There was, however, some broadening in terms of cuts. They were looser, generous, almost baggy. It would seem Reid is incorporating a whole new archetype into his down-home aesthetic: sports. Several knee-length shorts, which he indeed described as baller shorts, were especially wide. Meaning a basketball player could conceivably wear them on the court, though their sea garden pattern might be slightly out of place. Visors, too, resembled baseball caps, and on many looks, sneakers (K-Swiss) replaced loafers or lace-ups.
