Joseph Abboud is based in New York but if it were up to him, he and his wife, Lynn, and their two young daughters would be back in his hometown of Boston full-time, taking in Red Sox games or watching the Celtics at the “Gah-den.” Hitting the fashion parties and hobnobbing with the fashion press and hangers-on Joseph Abboud can do without.
“We’re not about being glitzy. That turns me off,” Abboud said between sips of ice tea at Bloomingdale’s on a chilly November morning. “My goal is not to get my name in the society page.
“Many designers get caught up in what the press writes about,” he says. And on many occassions, he continues, it’s easier to latch onto a concept and call it a trend, a la the “Gump style” that was foisted onto the public after the summer men’s shows.
“I detested that,” he said, “Don’t tell me that looking like a geek from the ’50’s is the trend. I don’t play the designer game.”
Their kind of town
Along with Abboud, Jill Sander, Nicole Miller, Isaac Mizrahi, Vera Wang and Nino Cerruti recently made stops in the city to press the flesh. So is New York-based designer Sal Cesarani.
While not having the same name recognition as the others, Cesarani may be worth getting to know. He’s a man who wants tailored, designer clothing at an affordable price.
Marshall Field and Co. is carrying the Cesarani line of suits, sportcoats and trousers at its Chicago-area stores. The line, according to Cesarani, draws from a “transatlantic concept.”
“This gives men the ability to look worldly,” the designer said. “It borders on the European concept, but is also traditional.”
Generation X, according to Cesarani, is ready to dress up. But for someone just out of college and ready to make his way in the world, it’s not easy to shell out $900 and up for a Calvin or Donna. That’s why Cesarani prices his line in the upper $300 to $400 range.
“I believe a man right out of school should be able to look for clothes that are right for him and be able to get a designer quality that’s affordable,” he says.
