Top image shot by Robert Hamada.

This week we’ll witness the first dedicated men’s New York Fashion Week, a slew of both established and emerging NY designers taking to the catwalk over three days. We’re speaking with designers and organisers to flesh out exactly what this all means for the evolving menswear landscape.

Amalgamating avenues of culture and boundary-breaking conventionality has been Siki Im’s calling-card for some time. Whether that’s churning together Western signifiers with Middle Eastern tropes or tapping into established techniques, his designs have developed into recognisable keep-sakes of craftsmanship.

We caught-up with Siki before his show to chat a little about his aesthetic and why New York Fashion Week: Men’s is such a beacon of progression for the modern-day, menswear crowd.

Lewis Firth: Menswear has seen considerable growth in the past few years, in light of this, what’s your experience of working as a menswear designer in New York?
Siki Im: Menswear has changed a lot in the last few years. Design has improved and gotten more interesting. This doesn’t mean that the quality has gotten better though.

LF: How has the menswear industry changed in New York? What’s the vibe like?
SI: Now we finally have our own fashion week. The CFDA did a great job because before we menswear designers were squeezed in between the womenswear designers. I feel now it is less competitive, but collective.

“We tend to have the ability to doze in comfort and perpetuity, taking things for granted and allowing ourselves to be fed by mainstream media. Menswear used to have this notion.”

LF: Is there a source that continues to inspire and drive your work every season?
SI: Yes, always: the human condition! I mostly get inspired by articles and books I read… or memories.

LF: What sort of challenges do you think New York-based menswear designers have to face, compared to, say, designers who are based and show in London, Paris or Milan?
SI: I think it is probably the same: how to stimulate and inspire the 1% by maintaining a healthy business. Then, of course, New York City needs to build an identity like the other cities have. It’s really exciting.

LF: There’s a statement by Foucault that is the foundation of your ideology. What is it about menswear that intrigues you? What boundaries and institutionalised, sartorial conventions do you intend to warp, alter and modernise?
SI: We tend to have the ability to doze in comfort and perpetuity, taking things for granted and allowing ourselves to be fed by mainstream media. Menswear used to have this notion. I try to see it from a different angle and propose a new perspective: one which is timeless and classic, hence, super-modern!

“I feel that the definition of man is changing and evolving in a very positive way. People are more into culture and cultivating themselves than before.”

LF: In regards to the previous question, is there a particular menswear silhouette that specifically intrigues you? For example, the notion of tailoring and why it has become so intrinsic to the male wardrobe.
SI: I think the hardest craft in menswear is tailoring and jeans. I love that both have this science and heritage to them. Both seem very mundane, yet the possibilities for experimentation are really interesting. In terms of silhouettes, I am very interested in Middle Eastern and Asian attires. So I mix them with Western styles and try to come up with something fresh.

LF: We’re in a transitional era where men are becoming more open to the idea of part-taking in explorative practices of identity and what it means to be truly ‘masculine’. What does this mean for you, your brand and the menswear industry as a whole?
SI: It is truly exciting. I think not only for men, but humans in general are becoming more open-minded and curious by questioning the norm (especially the ones in the first-world). I feel that the definition of man is changing and evolving in a very positive way. People are more into culture and cultivating themselves than before. We drink good coffee, local beer, wear great shoes, have Apple products and are utterly spoilt. Let’s hope we don’t become just hedonists, but truly love our neighbours, help the ones in need, and create exciting stuff that questions us, too.

Stay tuned to HERO for full SS16 fashion week coverage. NYFW Men’s, which runs from 13th to 15th July.