Cy Choi is a menswear brand from Seoul, South Korea, that has been on the sartorial radar of The Style Examiner for a while. Following on the footsteps of previous highly accomplished collections, the clothes designed for the current Autumn/Winter 2011 are a testament to its creator’s ingenuity in providing elegant clothing options for men.
The collection is inspired by the concept of inosculation, a natural phenomenon in which trunks or branches of two trees grow together to create a third tree variety. When occurring in plants, it is biologically similar to grafting; but in Cy Choi’s thinking process the notion of combination exists to facilitate sartorial creation.
Choi’s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection is focused on permanently blending (or inosculating) two contrasting structures: a tailored, formal base (white collar) and a work, denim, military, farmer base (blue collar), opposing well-made and deconstructed structures. On the tailoring front, the waist lines of jackets and coats are raised to overemphasize the silhouette, and shoulders are softened owing to being unpadded. In addition, oversized and shoulder-dropped coats, coats, knits, shirts, and regular slim-fit trousers combine one another. On the level of detail, work and denims pocket are placed on two-button tailored jackets; well-structured garment fronts contrast with irregular back structures; nylon from sports jackets are used on the whole front of a three-button wool jacket; and traditional tailoring contrasts with raw and frayed fabrics.
The colour palette reflects this eclectic approach to fashion by combining different shades in the same layers of garments: neutral colours are mixed with coral, chrome yellow, blue violet, and royal blue to generate expressive looks. The fabrics chosen for this season also mirror this approach: different weight wools are mixed with thin fabrics, and tweed cohabits with soft cotton and nylon.
