Masculinity gets a new look

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Senior couturier Randy Ortiz takes military inspiration and saturates it with color

WE LEARNED a new word: lampasse. It’s the strip of fabric that decorates the sides of military trousers, which has since bled into menswear. It was a visual motif for Randy Ortiz Man, the designer’s first major menswear show, held on March 19 at the Peninsula Manila.

“Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Rey was playing on a video used to introduce the show. The men stood outside the windows, by the pool, invoking the sunset waited for to start and color the show. We noticed a periwinkle tuxedo, appliquéd in the same material and color, and bellbottom trousers paired with a Cordillera fabric.

Mr. Ortiz played with expectations, such as showing military-style jackets with whimsical prints like palm trees. Many, if not almost all the pants, came with the lampasse strip running down the sides of the pants, emphasizing and giving further length to legs.

Masculine outfits like tuxedos (seen executed as a cape) and safari suits were seen on women.

Another subversion of masculinity was seen in a gorgeous Nehru jacket of lilac brocade, while my seatmate noticed a bubblegum pink suit — but according to her, the darts on the jacket are meant for female figures. That instead shaped the jacket’s drape over the male model in a more sensuous way.

In some matters, Mr. Ortiz can’t help his affection for the female form: aside from the women wearing the aforementioned tuxedo cape and safari suits, we saw an aviator-style suit on a woman, and an oversized zoot suit in a windowpane print on another. Finally, there was a ballgown skirt appliquéd all over with flowers and spangled in silver, paired with a tweed jacket threaded in the same metallic color.

There was also a series of tweed coats (adapted in the 1920s by Coco Chanel from hunting outfits to womenswear), in brightly colored threads. Past-the-knee coats were seen often on the runway: think denim trenches, trenchcoats slashed at the back, and the like.

We also saw variations on traditional menswear: think suit jackets tied with drawstrings and pulls at the bottom. The hardness of menswear was tempered through colors and silhouettes: the looks took on mod themes and 1970s shapes in bellbottoms, and graceful draping where there should be sharpness. We saw jackets and suits in russet red and soft greens.

However, Mr. Ortiz went classic with some of his former models: we saw actor John Estrada in a cool blue coat (cool as in it felt two degrees lower when we saw it on the runway) paired with a paisley scarf.

Actor Dingdong Dantes took the final walk, dressed in a tan double-breasted suit with peak lapels, all under a chic wine-red coat. Taken collectively, the collection is surprisingly youthful and fresh, despite Mr. Ortiz’s almost 40 years in fashion (he celebrated his 30th anniversary in 2018).

Asked after the show what keeps him young, Mr. Ortiz said, “It’s all about my love for fashion. It’s all about my love for my craft. It’s all about creating new things beyond my imagination. For me, this is a love letter to all Filipino males. To everyone: there is life more than just ordinary men’s clothes. There’s so much that we can offer.” — Joseph L. Garcia