This is a vibrant, colorful and interesting collection which BDMOTP would qualify first and foremost as younthful.  Yes the designer Mr Ooi is young but somehow the show and his collection for fall winter 15 /16 seem to hark back – to the future. There is a lot of deconstruction going on the runway here in Milan Day 1 with all types of materials in Mr Ooi’s rather marvelous comedia dell’arte cacophonia of creative menwear design. He uses fabrics as well as molded rubber as well as faux fur, faux leather and bonded sequins in the form of scales. Other trends noted were wool, unorthodox tailoring, different cuts and seams, a whole array of contrasting colors (although black & white with red stand out), everything cut up, only to be re-cut and cut again by the seams as well as across and over the surface, the language in this paragraph so much cut up and deconstructed so as to mimic the event itself; yet all this with grand focus and overarching purpose because what you see and witness by the end of the show is something which trend spotters usually look for in vain in movies (the Hunting Games or I am Number Four), in the latest game releases, in buzzed updates on social media: A clear vision of the future!

We imagine college sophomores or young working men in 2022 when style is no longer related to fashion. Because all style is home made every day. Every man has become a creator and a designer. Every man has a three D printer at home and each man by will and whim creates his own and latest style by adding several substances, layers, materials, cuts, patterns to create a suit or why not a dress for himself – created on computer the night before only to roll it all out on the 3D printer the next morning before going to school or work. Yes I do want to wear large red bands across my heavy rocker boots tomorrow (great signature in the collection this) and yes I do want that retro gothic trench coat made out of rubber because today I want to freak out my teachers a little bit – so that my friends will be proud. Oh and I like wrist bands across my coat arms, and a wooly collar scarf for good measure, and this pattern I am using was designed as non-repetitive last night at home – it took me a while to create. Let’s have the computer cut across the seams in odd geometrical figures for this is the space and information age and we are all made of stardust. The cosmos has become our home and creation our destiny. And lest we forget that it is indeed 2022, that whole thing with the blurred-lines started a decade ago. But today it is normal that men are wearing dresses and skirts and we love it.  We are looking to ‘break the classic menswear silhouette’ (words from the Edmund Ooi press release for the show) after all. Today we all adorn our mixed-media suits adjusted each day for the purpose of each scheduled meeting – just as we would love to have them. You see, in every man, deep down, there is a stylist and a creative designer and it was Edmund Ooi seven years ago in 2015 who first dared to express this with so much passion in his grand vision of what the future for men’s style may hold. Because in order to be able to build and to create, we must first learn how to deconstruct.

Posted by Sandro Joo and photos by Paloma Canseco.