Diesel Style Lab, Miguel Adrover

Diesel Style Lab tossed the kind of layered denim, T-shirt and sweat shirt ensembles onto the runway that one typically sees on music videos extras and in editorial spreads in second-tier fashion mag­azines that have an aversion to models who comb their hair. It is a self-conscious, studied look that is often attempted by good kids who aspire to cool indifference. But it is rarely copied with much success. Street-smart bravado is hard to get right in the shadow of a strip mall and a cul de sac without sidewalks.

Dressing well has been rede­fined. It may still be a sign of good manners, not forcing one's neigh­bor to witness ill-conceived en­sembles or garish colors, but more than that, it is successfully incorpo­rating comfort, environment, cool, and the personal into something extraordinary.

Miguel Adrover epitomized that complex stew when he presented his collection on Saturday. Having reorganized after being forced to shut down his business last year, Adrover returned with a collection “Citizen of the World” that remained true to his vision that fashion should reflect a cultural mosaic.

Do-rags were woven into a tank top and a dress. An oversize T-shirt was transformed into a silk georgette dress. Long shirts in the style of North Africa and the Middle East were worn with tailored jackets and trousers. A sharkskin three-piece pantsuit was cut for men and women.

Adrover referenced Hasidim and the priesthood. He used Carib­bean prints. Thai pants, Nuyorican shorts, banker suits and anything else that one might see walking down a crowded New York street. Yet it was all linked by the ways in which people borrow—often un­knowingly—from another culture in the name of comfort and cool. Patterns are embraced, not for their meaning, but because of their beauty. Loose fit trousers are be­loved because of their ease, not be­cause they are particularly Asian or Caribbean. A long shirt with san­dals looks elegant on a hot summer evening—cultural origin is forgotten.

Making it one's mission to cele­brate multiculturalism can easily leave a designer's collection look­ing like a high-priced version of a Benetton shop. And when Adrover sent out a model dressed in the equivalent of the United Nations flag, he tumbled into mawkishness. But his lapses were rare. And throug sheer talent, he convincingly argued that dressing well still matters.

VOCABULARY