It's almost as if the people need to catch up with the press when it comes to the perception of Billy Reid. The Alabama man is hitting on all cylinders and somehow still flying under today's menswear fans' radar despite consistently turning out top notch designs. His triumphant F/W 15 collection was a hard act to follow, but S/S 16 was more than a worthy successor, touting casual looks without becoming sloppy, all styled beautifully here by Eugene Tong. Patterns came in all shapes and sizes from abstract waves and fragmented polygons on knits to elaborate wisps and foliage on rawer textiles. While S/S outerwear can prove difficult for some designers to properly navigate and execute, Billy kept them thin and flowy, complete with subtle, art-like patterning and raised textures for visual intrigue. Some designers trot their looks out in distinct, sectioned color stories, but that was not the case here, resulting in a show that felt as cohesive as anything we saw during New York Fashion Week: Men's. I don't think I'm reaching when I say that it represented what someone's closet could realistically look like. Sometimes, that simplicity is all we really need to appreciate the beauty we don't always see.
