Zane Li is settling into the Paris of it all after trading the Big Apple for the City of Light earlier this year. This was his second menswear collection, having tried the category for size last season. So far, so good.
It was once again Li’s technical curiosity that guided his lineup, itself propelled by research the designer did within pockets of archetypal menswear, he explained at a preview. Namely, Li looked at officewear, swimwear, sporting looks, and other sartorial spaces that are regimented by pragmatism rather than play or aesthetics, as much of menswear often is.
Yet Li has a knack for imbuing a sense of whimsy into these simple and familiar styles. He said his research was not era-specific, though the influence of the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s was clear through most of his output. “There’s a bit of aggression that feels quite [prevalent] for the world right now,” he said of some of these sportswear and rock ’n’ roll references. What that is, really, is a sense of macho; an unrelenting masculinity that Li said he was keen to design against.
“I’m more interested in the positive side of men,” he continued, “the soft, modest side.” This idea was most evident, and translated most effectively, in a series of shirting and suiting cut out of sheer nylon in sweet pastel colors. Li also layered tank tops and T-shirts, expanding on some of his ideas from last season, in primary colors that when seen together on the same rack transmitted a similar comforting feeling with the naïveté—and color story, even—of an old school Fisher Price toy or Lego set.
A recurring idea here, Li said, was to “make the shorts disappear.” These were microscopic, as they have been in most collections this season. He hid them under blazers and nylon windbreakers. The effect was somewhat retro—and sexy in the same way that those tiny, and very revealing, running shorts from the ’80s are in hindsight, but it felt modern in the way the eroticism was softer and more subtle. This is what gives Li an edge—his potential as a designer hinges on the way his curiosity isn’t nostalgic or overly referential. His ideas feel new.