Sneak Peek: Duckie Brown Spring 2011

“Let’s put you in a ridiculous outfit,” Steven “Duckie” Cox, one half of Menswear label Duckie Brown, joked with their model.

Ridiculous? Judge for yourself.

With Fashion Week only a few weeks away, Cox and partner Daniel Silver were previewing their spring collection, presented in collaboration with American Crew artistic director Paul Wilson to a small group of reporters at their Meatpacking studio.

The inspiration for the collection was “everything but the kitchen sink,” and the clothes live up to the name: Different materials, prints, patterns and colors define each piece. With this maximalist outlook, Duckie Brown has more than waved adieu to the austerity of 2009; they’ve killed it, buried it, and put a technicolor nail in the coffin for good measure.

The veritable explosion of textures and color synthesizes the unusual combination of lightweight wools and linens. Their friend Eileen Gleeson at Design Union in the UK has helped them develop insect-patterned prints as well as some brightly colored camos, and plaids.

The word “eclectic” does not do it justice. They wanted “intuitive dressing,” says Silver, “stuff that traditionally doesn’t go together, but when you wear it the right way it does.”

Their signature drop-crotch pants are still a feature, both in suit-grey and Kermit-green., The numbers you’ll find on the rack at Odin next spring include a fitted, dark Italian demin jacket, a leopard-print nylon bomber, a bug-print cargo short, and fitted plaid shirts.

“Boys love plaid and we love to give it to them” says Cox.

“I actually never wear plaid,” piped up a VICE magazine staffer, also in attendance for the preview.

Cox, who was showing me their shoes for spring—pastel oxfords and idlers from designs found in Florsheim’s archive—gave his outfit a quick look and smiled:

“That shirt is plaid.”

Then he turned back to his clothes.