Imagine my surprise when, during Tibi’s Spring Summer 2027 runway presentation, I recognized a model I’d seen a few days before at Texas Chicken & Burgers in Bed-Stuy. He looked cool then—clearly a model, wearing a long-sleeved heather grey crewneck shirt, relaxed medium wash jeans, and black flip-flops—and carried that same sensibility into this season’s offerings, as if they were his own clothes. Quite easily he could’ve strolled out of the show and into the less fashion-congested streets of Chelsea and no one would’ve thought he was dressed in sample pieces head-to-toe. (That’s the point.

Leave it to the content creator Jake Musser to name the color of the button-down shirt in look 26: “key lime?” It was a crowd favorite. Styled with rust trousers and snakeskin sandals, it gave off a Southern Italian debonairness. Or the jaunty yet comfortable feel of Miami, to bring things closer to home.

The whole mood of the collection was particularly resonant for those of us who hail from the South. In fact, this 30th anniversary show was inspired by a trip Amy took to Nashville, with much credit to Dolly Parton. It brought to mind that “Jolene” is on the CP playlist and part of the New York store soundtrack. Once the collection arrives we’ll see just how much that music gets clients flipping their bibs and metal-tipped collars about, turning in and out of dressing rooms in studded belts for a fourth opinion (I hear ‘em now: “I just feel so cool in this!”), situating themselves into a Western yoke denim shirt to meet its demands.

It’s worth mentioning how none of it was contrived—“costumey,” as one attendee put it. Many designer brands have been guilty of this. The risk in that would be how well such in-your-face references would fuse with the rest of our clients’ wardrobes; the bottom line is that it probably wouldn’t land. (Perhaps it’s the armchair merchant in me, that part of my job is to make sure clients can see where our designs fit into their lives.)

On that note Tibi is more and more keen to reach the men’s market, incrementally. And the collection was evidence of that with around 10 men’s looks total, though plenty others work for us too.

You know, if I had a dollar for the number of guys who accompany their spouses or girlfriends to the flagship—even those who show up solo—and ask about our men’s selections, it’d cover my twice-weekly lasagna slice at Famous Ben’s in SoHo. Something tells me a whole pie is on the horizon. A man can dream!

The Tibi Men of Spring 27