continued

   The fall collection by Francis Hendy was by far the most improved, laser-beam-focused collection he has ever shown. While I have never doubted his talent, I have often been disappointed by his lack of focus in past seasons. What he needed—and where he showed the most growth—was in his editing down of the collection before show time. It was everything including the kitchen sink.
   For fall 2002, it was a mixture of the late ’40s and the contrast of our present time as seen by Mr Hendy. A lot of his coats had double side flaps which is very much of the ’40s. What tied it all together was his pairing the coats with leather pieces in diverse colours and animal skins. When he got it all right, he was golden. One such example was at the top of the programme where he paired a dark brown sweater with wool plaid flat front pant. He then topped it off with a dark green suede bomber jacket with a brown textured leather collar. This was as good as it gets: classic menswear for the widest possible range of customer.
   As usual, ultrasuede played a dominant role throughout the collection, with the best example being his smoke gray ultrasuede suit. It, also, was just right. Other pieces worthy of mention include his royal blue Napoli reversible coat, a rust plaid wool double breasted suit, and his patterned black leather jacket with its black rabbit fur collar.
   But there is still much work to be done if he wants to get to the next level. There were far too many pieces that should have been left in the showroom. He showed a great ultrasuede jacket–vest but then couldn’t leave well enough alone. He spoiled it by tarting it up with studs that reminded me of the ’80s—the bad ’80s. There were simply too many buttons on his military suit. Sometimes we forget that less is really more. • Phillip D. Johnson

Phillip D. Johnson is Features Editor of Lucire.
Richard Spiegel is New York Editor of Lucire.

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