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Who's the boss? by Guy Babineau
One of the drawbacks of being a writer is that you can’t afford the high-end fashion you write about. One of the benefits is that you get invited to swank events, where the discrepancy sorely sinks in. So there I was on Wednesday night last week, in my usual position, nursing a cocktail on the periphery of glamour. Canapes and gossip circulated, the usual media suspects glugged champagne, publicists pressed flesh, and some people even looked at the clothes—which were well worth looking at.
We were all there to launch Canada’s very first stand-alone Boss Hugo Boss store, which is situated right beside Harry Rosen in Pacific Centre. Operated in partnership with the well-established Canadian men’s clothier, this is the first of a number of Boss stores planned for elsewhere in Canada in the near future. The brightly lit, cheerful design certainly showed off the season’s Boss collection to full advantage. Particularly notable were the range of suit jackets and blazers in subtle check motifs with daring dashes of unsuspected colour, warm greens, blues and oranges that deviated somewhat from the dark conservatism currently dominating men’s business attire. There were lots of sumptuous shirts in the fall’s earthy colour spectrum. A charcoal, waist-length suede coat with matching shearling cuffs, collar and lining stood out in the crowd. It would have looked right at home on the swinging London streets of Antonioni’s Blowup.
The window display featured some sharp, sleek suits; a complete turnaround from the design firm’s 1980s power suits. Let’s face it, there used to be something so Brett Easton Ellis about Hugo Boss. In fact, if you close your eyes and repeat Hugo Boss three times out loud, the slick and smarmy Charlie Sheen of Wall Street will appear before you, chanting, “Greed is good.” Ah, the good old days way before Enron. But the new Hugo Boss, especially its Boss collection for men, is a very different story. There wasn’t a padded shoulder in sight, and not even the slightest hint of a whiff of Dakar Noir.
It seemed a bit unusual that Vancouver, not Toronto, was selected for the first Canadian store, and when I asked the President of Hugo Boss Canada about this, he had some, well, unusual things to say. Apparently we are a much more dependable fashion market than we let on.
“We’ve been planning to open a Canadian store for some time but were waiting for the right opportunity and partnership. We have a very long association—25 years— in Vancouver through Harry Rosen,” said Les Minion. “This city is a great, stable market.”
But can the clever sophistication of the new Boss collection attract Vancouver men, who are notoriously fond of active wear and traditionally shy away from threads that smack of the boardroom, no matter how well-designed?
“It’s a physically active city, very athletic, and they appreciate excitement and colour. In a way, they’re more forward-thinking than some people in Toronto.”
This is something you don’t hear every day. I peeked over the nearby display case to see if perhaps Mr. Minion had stashed his own cache of champers, but it wasn’t the bubbly talking. He was on the level.
“No, I really mean that. There is a lot of sophistication here. You have to remember it’s a pivotal city for international exposure. This morning, in my hotel room— and I’ve never seen this anywhere else in the world—I found a fan of international newspapers reprinted from the Web, in several different languages. Plus, you have to understand that we’re [Boss Hugo Boss] not just a commodity manufacturer. We’re a collection. The appreciation of our sportswear is equally important as the appreciation of our suits.”
To be fair, anyone who slots Boss into the corporate category would do well to visit hugoboss.com and take a look at the collection’s eclecticism. Not only does it include bodywear, sportswear, outerwear, accessories and a new cologne for men, the more formal attire has a youthful, slightly maverick flavour.
“There’s an expression of a laissez-faire attitude here,” Minion mused. “You know, guys driving around in their convertibles with the top down, in November! That type of attitude allows for people to put together a more eclectic wardrobe.”
A little later, over dinner at Lumiere, Harry Rosen President Larry Rosen concurred with Minion’s sentiments, and suggested that they weren’t misplaced. He mentioned that in the first week the store was open for business, Boss Hugo Boss far exceeded their sales projections.
Like many companies with lengthy histories, Hugo Boss has had a checkered past. The firm started out in 1923 as a small family business in Germany, which made police uniforms. A few years ago, it was revealed that Hugo Boss had made uniforms for the Nazis, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the company today. In the 1990s, Hugo Boss AG was purchased by Marzotto in Italy, and it’s been a change for the better. The strong business foundation provided by Marzotto frees up the designers at Boss to do what they do best, and it shows. Though whether or not this new stand-alone store signifies an evolution in Vancouver men’s fashion sense, we’ll have to see. Will other design firms follow suit, so to speak? Men's Tailoring The Man Who Shot Ziggy Stardust Boss Hugo Boss Ken: The Ultimate Male Model Heatherette Men's Shoes The Duffer of St. George The Men of 2003 © Guy Babineau 2003-2004
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