The 21st floor of the Chelsea Arts Tower was the venue for Nautica’s 2010 Men’s Fall fashion presentation. An open bar and scenic deck though tempting were no match for the rustic America inspired collection. Our attention was instantly diverted to Nautica’s all American looks.
Creative Director and Designer Chris Cox at Nautica Fall 2009 Menswear Collection
We brought you the collection, now meet the man who designed it. Chris Cox, 41 studied at Parsons School of Design and is an veteran of Tommy Hilfiger, Victorinox, and Swiss Army. During the exclusive preview, Cox spoke with us about Fall 2009 Menswear Collection.
JSD: What inspired this collection?
Chris Cox: It’s based around naval military, mixed with performance. A performance that exude the Nautica spirit as a brand. We went more hardcore in detail; new directions in fabrication, taking sweaters and added a lot more weight, more strong pieces to make it a little more structured. Also, in tailoring we wanted to make things a little more soft. This collection is a blend of our Licensed Product categories, as well as our Sportswear Product categories. So we crossed mixed all of the looks, it’s really how guys wear it.
JSD: What can you tell us about the fabrics?
CC: In fall, the collection is a lot of cotton. It’s much more “buy now, wear now”. As we get into the holiday, we start mixing in more wool. In tailored apparel, we are using super 100s, super 120s, finer wool, and more wool blended in the sweaters. Our collection is mostly cotton and natural fiber based.
JSD: Where do you see fashion in the next five years?
CC: Fashion is a good question, but Nautica is a another one. For us the brand has such a great DNA. Our challenge is about how do we keep the brand and the DNA fresh every season without losing who we are. We are not the type of brand that could just all of a sudden pull a 180 and go another way. There has to be a really strong consistency and stay current with fabric, color, proportion, and details.
Nautica, founded in 1983, took its name from the Latin word “Nauticus” for ship. So what better place to hold an exclusive preview of their Fall 2009 Menswear Collection, than the Intrepid Museum. The museum made for a nice backdrop to the collection featuring thirty looks. The ensembles featured classic naval outerwear, cotton peacoats in navy and charcoal wool, double-faced rain jackets, orange coast guard parka, 3/4 length Captain’s coat, a nylon puffer jacket with faux fur trim collar, and cotton/wool pants.
During the presentation, a short film played on the huge screen (pictured above) showing planes landing and taking off on the Essex class carrier. Tons of pictures when you read the rest.