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ABOVE AND ABOVE RIGHT: Nautica by David Chu. BELOW AND BELOW RIGHT: Studio Chereskin.

For a first-time womenswear collection, Ron Chereskin and his team did a good job in creating a niche for themselves in the market-place

   Mr Chu showed some of the best suits of the season, with my favourites being his brown basket weave wool three-button suit, the charcoal cashmere wool window-pane three-button suit, and his navy cashmere double pinstripe suit. I especially liked his black wool turtleneck paired with a fitted charcoal wool flannel pant and accessorized with a black wool knit cap and black leather gloves—a look that brings to mind Cary Grant in the classic movie, It takes a Thief (also starring the late, great Grace Kelly).
   He also very much knows his customers, and as such, often shows his more formal pieces (the suits) with edgier, more youthful informal pieces (hooded jackets, colourful cotton shirts, and beautiful shearling coats and leather jackets). Other stand-out pieces in the collection include his rugged outerwear jackets and coats, which ran the gamut from his navy merino Teflon knitted jacket and ice grey canvas hooded coat to his grey wool herringbone top coat, his Aspen red-black nylon parka and his yellow NX4000 waterproof parka jacket.

 
Ron Chereskin Studio

VETERAN menswear designer Ron Chereskin (and patron saint of homeless cats and dogs everywhere) showed a vastly relaxed collection (for men) while debuting his new womenswear collection (designed by Kathy Comelli and Rebecca Lipshutz, in association with the European Design Group) on the same runway and was fairly successful at both endeavours. The men's collection consisted of mostly casual pieces such as beautiful zip front sweaters, slim jeans, great looking blazer jackets (in wool, velvet and bark–olive–cream striped patterns) and suits that are not the least bit stodgy. My favourite looks are his cream tweed zip-front sweater and mush-coloured tweed coat (paired with a pair of slim jeans), a tobacco tweed–wool zip-up sweater paired with ribbed cashmere–flannel pants and topped off with a humongous mahogany cashmere blanket posing as a scarf, and Daniel in a ebony double breasted microcord pea coat, heather gray basket weave cashmere crewneck sweater and navy denim pants.
   Mr Chereskin's new women's line has a slight whiff of the ’70s, Charlie-wearing, power-dressing woman but he was otherwise firmly grounded in the here and now. I like his opening number, a beige tweed shift dress with suede shoulder trim accents and his fitted tweed cropped trench jacket paired with slim jeans and boots. Another excellent look was his brown (tobacco) top-stitched microcord jean jacket paired with a sexy graphic plaid flared hem pencil skirt. Other stand-out looks include his titanium satin trench dress with black and white tweed accent detailing and his black and white fitted pea coat top paired with a black and white tweed pencil skirt. For a first-time collection, Mr Chereskin and his team did a good job in creating a niche for themselves in the market-place.

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