NYC: John Bartlett - RUGGED LUXE

JOHN BARTLETT: Rugged Luxe


{New York City} By Clif Loftin, Bureau Chief

I first became aware of John Bartlett's genius when I was attending New York's Fall 1998 Fashion Week. John presented his collection at the New York State Armory. He began the show with the song "Knights in White Satin" as models clad in all white appeared and began to float down a long black and sparkling moon rock covered runway. The clean and crisp white suddenly turned into dark shades of purple -- then the collection churned out a military "look" ending with a model riding out on a saddled horse.

Bartlett's use of color and design is always artistically inspiring and his collections are always mesmerizing. Ever since that first show I have been extremely smitten -- and my love affair with John Bartlett and his clothes are still just as powerful today. So I was thrilled to witnessed John Bartlett's latest designs this morning at the tents in Bryant Park as John kicked off the Fall 2006 Menswear Collections.

This is an excerpt from the shows program: "This season, Bartlett found his inspiration in a suitably iconic setting -- and untamed stretch of coastline and wilderness that lies between Provincetown and Walden Pond, Massachusetts. In Bartlett's imagination this wild and wooly place is where sexy Ptown "Bears" ramble through pine forests, splash about naked in freshwater ponds and read Thoreau's "Walden Pond" (yes, Bears can read) before dozing off under the stars.

Rugged as this all sounds, Bartlett also knows that even the most butch of creatures love luxury. Which is why his "Man-Bears" eschew nakedness in favor of reinterpreted New England classics like a loden cashmere pea coat, a Prince of Wales Norfolk jacket, and a vintage plaid mackinaw, all worn with luxurious merino henleys and long johns.

Stylish and practical, these intrepid blokes favor a new Ghurka log carrier - all the better to transport their logs ( and the latest issue of men's Vogue) back to camp in. Fall 2006 is Bartlett's first season as Creative Director of Ghurka (another East Coast icon), and this new collection meshes beautifully with his "rugged luxe" clothing. A twill and leather sailor duffel, for instance, looks like it might have spent time sailing up the Cape Cod Coast. A nubuck backpack would look perfectly at hme at a bonfire in Truro. And a traditional overnighter, newly rendered in houndstooth and black leather, makes a wonderfully sumptuous pillow. Should a bear invite you to sleep over........"