An alum of Thom Browne and Michael Bastian, lodestars of American design, Marlon Gobel chose a setting evocative of decades of power lunches and corporate might for his second collection / first show entitled "Mr America" and it was dimmer than usual in the Grill Room at the Four Seasons, New York. Inpired by the titans of America, the collection had a high note early on in the show with his Pennsylvania lattice-lace jacket. His prints were slightly muted this season, seen on a cotton-cashmere Hokusai wave-sweater and the American forest sweater and its complimentary vest. Instead of acting as a focal point, this season’s prints harmonize with their surroundings, serving the stronger whole, versus being solely an an eye-catching piece of decoration. Other stand-out pieces included the vermilion double breasted blazer with red canvas pants and the 3-piece khaki cotton tuxedo. Checked suits and madras shirts recalled visions of power from the worlds of industry and the frontier, while pullovers depicting ocean waves and a print of fighter jets evoked more modern paragons. Mr Gobel was true to himself, meeting and beating expectations for this sophomore collection.
