JANE HERMAN SHOPS MEN's SHOWS S/S '10

It was never my intention to become the resident menswear dresser at Vogue, but given how often I wear a tailored blazer or button-down shirt, or both, it sort of happened that way. Maybe it’s having short hair that makes me feel incomplete without a stiff collar? Maybe it’s my mother in me (her crisp-shirt-and-colorful-corduroy uniform is perfection)? But when I see pouf-hipped party dresses at Jason Wu and Derek Lam, I know two things for certain: (1) They’re gorgeous, and (2) they’re not for me.

What is on the runways for me right now I find at a much-less-expected locale: the men’s shows. Or, in some cases, on a coed catwalk, where the guys’ clothes complement what the women are wearing. For example, at Rag & Bone: Loved the way that David Neville and Marcus Wainwright paired tuxedo jackets with luxury long johns for the ladies, but the Lewis pant that many of the men had on was what I wanted––roll the leg, cinch the waist so that it’s paper-bagged a bit, and I’d be set (I’d also, probably, be alone with my look, which makes for great statement-making). Phillip Lim, who launched a men’s line in 2007, did his first presentation for only those clothes last Friday. There I found an option for evening—patchwork cardigan, blush-toned tank, leather karate-style Guru pant—to wear with a Balmain ankle boot, perhaps. And right downstairs from Lim, at Loden Dager, long dropped-crotch cotton shorts to wear with pretty blouses on the weekend couldn’t hit stores too soon for me.

“It’s so cool to see a girl in an oversize cardigan, like she just grabbed her guy’s before running out the door,” says Richard Chai, who showed his men’s collection right after his new Richard Chai LOVE line, which is, essentially, an ode to boyfriend dressing. Chai, I learned in a few fast minutes before showtime, is all for borrowing from the boys. I ask him which piece he thinks I could pull off. “The enzyme-washed parka (above),” he says. “Just wear it big.” When I see it come down the runway looking sharp but relaxed, sleeves rolled, not too tough, I swoon. And the model is pretty cute, too. - Jane Herman

(Source: VOGUE)