Moncler Gamme Bleu Spring/Summer 2016 Menswear

In short, this was Gamme Bleu goes rowing. In long—and today’s ode to oarsmen lasted only slightly less time than an Oxford vs. Cambridge boat race—this was a rich-through-repetition testament to the breadth of fabrication and the depth of technique at Moncler’s disposal. There were two boats, each with twice the number of tricolor oars it should strictly have. Around them clustered four groups of nautilus-honed chaps with thighs like mighty hams wearing white zip-up polos and blue shorts, all carrying kit bags with differently colored webbings. With plenty of backslapping and hearty, helpful collar tweaking along the way—collegiate bonhomie—they proceeded to change into the contents of the bags, and a code emerged. There was team nautical stripe; team red, white, and blue; team faded gray stripe; and team extrovert—who landed lime green, yellow, and pink. Each team wore seersucker shorts, trousers, or jolly short shorts, along with strangely uniform (given the variation of what was above) white-soled navy deck shoes and bucket hats.

The star category, of course, was jackets. For the second turn around the runway, these consisted of mostly block color piumino blousons, with the odd flash of stripe. Once they were removed, another turn revealed the looks below, which were the heart of this collection. In various lengths, the essence of it was fantastic variations on the rowing blazer. Afterward, designer Thom Browne summarized thus: “There were a lot of different variations on rowing and crewing stripes: team stripes. There was astrakhan [white] in the striped pattern, cashmere with grosgrain that was embroidered into the stripes, and, of course, there were printed and woven fabrics that were in the stripes. There was terry cloth that had an inlay of sequin in it. There was men’s suiting fabric that had seam-taped stripes—so there were a lot of variations.” In total the three turns around the two boats resulted in around 160 looks, Browne said. Some in the audience indulged in cox and rowlocks gags as they passed, it’s true, but this mighty armada of a Moncler fleet review was some sight to behold. An awesome display.