Like Ernest Hemingway, Daiki Suzuki is a man of the world, and draws on his life experience to create his masterpieces. It was fitting, then, that the designer had taken the late American writer as his inspiration for this Engineered Garments collection, citing Hemingway as “one of our admired heroes.”
Rooted in rugged military staples and American workwear, this season felt like a confident return to the kind of clothes Engineered Garments is best known for. Suzuki intended this particular outing as “a new city safari.” Still, these clothes are more destined to mooch around the local farmer’s markets of New York and Tokyo than they are to fish for marlins or traverse the Serengeti (though you could wear them to do it all should you wish). It’s that sense of authenticity mixed with adventure that keeps the label’s offering fresh and relevant each season.
Plus, Suzuki doesn’t just rehash his references; he reinvigorates them by adding his own brand of irreverence and playfulness, tossing in a vibrant print—see the leopard print cagoules, trippy jacquards and madras jackets—or an unexpected mix of fabrics: the futuristic silver nylon, pleasantly anachronistic next to the fine floral corduroy. Most charming of this season’s artsy flourishes, however, were the twill jackets and fatigue pants that featured line drawings inspired by the pastoral scenes in Hemingway’s oeuvre. They were Picasso-style, and apparently done by a member of EG’s in-house team.
There was fun to be had in the silhouettes too, with hunting jackets elongated almost down to the knees, full skirts with adjustable gathers at the hem, and imposing military doctor coats with straps to tighten at the neck or the sides—or, as in the lookbook, to hang from the shoulder like a backpack. The outside world beckons.