Every season, Cadet’s Raúl Arévalo and Brad Schmidt pick one wartime photograph for inspiration. This season, it was a snap taken during WWII of, straightforwardly, Morse code. “Long and short signals,” said Schmidt. “So we did a shorter jacket and a longer pant.”
The former is of the greatest interest; Cadet makes a truly killer trouser. A couple here had an athletic cuff—somewhat of a house signature—while others came in charcoal wool, with button-closure ankles that marched up to the mid-shin (the effect provided the slightest humorous relief to the show’s austere styling and moody soundtrack). A closing flight pant—matched with a coordinating trenchcoat above—boasted a cool “smoke-screen” motif on a nylon-wool blend. Said Arévalo: “The print is from radio waves carrying top-secret messages.”
Military is forever the label’s modus operandi. And the rigidity that comes with militarism is sometimes overwhelming; you want to see these clothes live, breathe, and not look as though they’re part of a roll call. Perhaps that will be achieved when they are de-coupled and worn IRL. On a high note, a ray of street savviness and approachability presented itself in Cadet’s latest collaboration: high-tops, in black-on-black or silver foil, with Greats, a Brooklyn-based footwear startup. A plus? They go on sale tomorrow.
