Nautica’s Steve McSween Was In a New York State of Mind For Spring
Nautica, one of the most iconic American brands, presented its Spring 2016 collection earlier this week during New York Fashion Week: Men’s, and it consisted mainly of swimwear and a newly interpreted version of its signature windbreaker. If you noticed the Chrysler Building decorating those trunks it was because the garments were inspired by the architectural landscapes of New York City. “It felt natural to kind of pull those pieces and kind of push the point that this is designed here,” Steve McSween, the VP of Men’s Global Design, told Yahoo Style. Read on to find out why there may be a gargoyle on your boyfriend’s shorts next spring.
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Yahoo Style: So clearly the emphasis on the collection seems to be swimwear. What was the inspiration behind the collection?
Steve McSween: The decision for it to be a swim feature was perfectly in line with iconic pieces for us. So what we were trying to do was sportswear around swim. Because as you know, right now, these guys are wearing these shorts as just sportswear and water is kind of secondary. So the name of the collection today is “Where The Water Meets The City.” If you kind of think about the fact that there’s a New York-centric spin on how we’re looking at this. We took some architectural reference points from New York. For example there are prints inspired by the Chrysler Building. We even hid a bunch of gargoyles on top of buildings and tied them up in nautical rope as a cool status-y print. There are some New York Waterway moments. It felt natural to kind of pull those pieces and kind of push the point that this is designed New York City and there’s a reference point.
YS: Did you go back into the archives of Nautica?
SM: We did in a few places where we wanted to make new spins like on that 12-meter jacket from back in the day. Why not go after this cool nylon pea coat for those that are nautical inspired? It’s the reason people come to us. It’s obviously also in some of the sweaters and the Breton silhouette with the button on the shoulder showing up. And obviously plenty of skin to show off the sex appeal.
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YS: Yes, the pecs are out today! If you had one look that could sum up the whole collection, which look would it be?
SM: That yellow, modern take on that parka. It’s kind of redefining how we look at something so classic and the DNA of the brand. Just touching it, the trims feel cool, the finish is right.
YS: Last question: why only trunks? Just to keep it casual?
SM: To keep it casual. And I think men’s week came up pretty quickly and pretty early and so it felt good to be focused and it doesn’t feel out of step with out heritage to be about swim and outwear and nautical sweaters.
Photo: Getty
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