Capsule New York Men’s Show Brings Directional Brands, Stylists, Buyers Together in Uniquely Themed Show Featuring Amy Jean Porter’s Band of Wild Horses

Capsule is busy with buyers in NYC.

Photos by Tom Wallace

Capsule fashion trade show July 18 and 19th located right next to Agenda at 548 West 22nd Street in NYC, is one of those key shows for gathering the latest insight on men’s contemporary–in particular what you’ll find in leading-edge boutiques next Spring and Summer.

Featuring 150 brands on 5 floors in a cool loft, including a tented roof section, the show featured an exciting mix of brands, ranging from Palladium which was introducing their upcoming Explorations campaign featuring Pharrell Williams in the waterways of Tokyo, to Goth-inspired LA-based SkinGraft Designs, denim brands such as PRPS, Naked and Famous Denim, Comune, heritage brands ranging from Penfield, Abington by Timberland, Sperry Top-Sider, Earnest Alexander, surf-inspired brands such as Lightning Bolt, Riviera Club, Freshjive, and Stussy Deluxe, the Copenhagen contingency of Wood Wood, Won Hundred, Libertine-Libertine, and a range of other leading-edge brands such as Lifetime, Creative Recreation, Trovata, Staple, Scout Original, Adidas’ Y-3, Rogan, Saint James, Shades of Grey by Micah Cohen, Clae, and an traditional mix of backpack brands such as Kelty, Sierra Designs, and Peter Mountain Works.

Mix of eclectic and classics.

What’s interesting about this show is not only the brands, but also the buyers, media, bloggers, and designers that it attracts. Literally, walking the aisles you’ll run across some of the most fashion-forward people in the industry which also adds to the attraction of attending this show.

Capsule, launched by the collective/agency BPMW, has been on a roll the past few years, now with shows in Berlin, Paris, and Las Vegas, but it’s something about their hometown NYC shows that attract some of the best international buyers in the world. Not that the other cities aren’t global destination hotspots themselves, but perhaps it’s the location and timing that seems to motivate those looking for something fresh, if not classic, to attend, creating sort of a pop-up community of cool people. (The bracelet for entering the show is appropriately titled a “Friendship Bracelet.”)

Leading-edge brands in men’s contemporary often found in top boutiques are showcased here.

In addition this year, they added a pop-up shop around the corner called Old & New in association with A Continuous Lean open to the public where people could buy or browse through a range of offerings including vintage finds by Orange Crush Exports, Industrial Lighting by B4 It Was Cool, McSweeney’s Books, and an entire installation of vintage props from byKenyan.

Each Capsule show centers around a particular theme based on an artist that the producers select which then is strung throughout the show in terms of the show book guide, Friendship Bracelet for entry, and other aspects of the show’s design. This summer, they chose Amy Jean Porter, a painter known for her animal drawings, particularly wild horses and foxes. As a reflection to today’s competitive landscape in fashion and the challenges taking place in retail and the economy in general, it seemed appropriate: “In the wild, membership of a group is such as important survival strategy that the social behavior of the horse functions to minimize conflict within the group and so promotes its stability In the wild, unsettled dominance relationships are usually only found among young horses, and free-ranging equine society could be said to function on kinship, recognition, and respecting another’s space.” -From the Importance of Ethology in Understanding Behavior of the Horses by Dr. Deborah Goodwin.

In a way Capsule taps into the sense of wild community coming together for a common purpose before running off again to the far corners of the world, each with our own sense of style from pieces of inspiration recognized and featured in the NYC Capsule space.

From the Old and New pop-up shop. Props from byKenyan showcase Americana themes.