Peter Do’s Menswear-Focused S/S'23 Show

Brooklyn-based Vietnamese-American designer Peter Do presented his first collection featuring menswear at New York Fashion Week. British Vogue fashion critic Anders Christian Madsen reports below. 

The show marked Peter Do’s menswear debut

If the desirability of Peter Do’s womenswear has often been founded in his adaptation of the ease and elegance of the men’s wardrobe, it wasn’t so weird that the designer’s menswear debut blended in so naturally on his spring/summer 2023 runway. “In pursuit of completing the Peter Do universe, people have always told us, ‘It’s about time that you launched men’s!’ Although, men have been wearing Peter Do for some time now,” he said before the show. “The eternal question of ‘who is the Peter Do woman?’ has always been limiting to me. Now, I’m excited to say that Peter Do is for everyone, because we don’t just dress women or men, we dress people.”

It was about time

As a comment on the pace and rush of fashion, Do titled his collection Time. “I was thinking about how we always seem to be running out of time in this industry. As a designer and brand, we are always living in the future and never in the present. This collection marks a period where, for the first time in a while, I feel present; where I’ve slowed down to savour those important moments in life.” His reflections manifested in what he called the “fundamentals” of his brand: The deconstruction of garments, a focus on the convertible wardrobe and transparency. Do played with androgynous codes in the exaggerated fits and volumes of suits, magnified classic shirts and exploded them into buoyant coats.

The collection drew on Do’s young classics

“In a way, sometimes you need to look back in order to move forward,” Do reflected. “I believe that newness doesn’t always come from scratch, and oftentimes you create newness with something that already exists. We’re leaning into our core values of convertibility and versatility for this collection, where a more inclusive collection featuring menswear was the natural next step.” In fact, the men’s element came so naturally to Do that it was instinctive. “Of course, certain things are fit specifically for certain builds and anatomies, but the intention and the process are ultimately the same. Our past is a common starting point across seasons: We always revisit key silhouettes and popular bodies that we’ve done in previous seasons and adapt them to our current reality.”

It was loosely autobiographical

Was Do’s new focus on menswear founded in his personal wardrobe? “Yes and no,” he said. “There will always be part of me in every collection, because I style [the collection] and my direct involvement in that process is what makes it so personal. But also, my personal style doesn’t necessarily encapsulate what the entire brand represents. The Peter Do brand is bigger than my own style and bigger than myself. I’m a chronic outfit repeater!”

NCT Dream’s JENO opened the show opened the show

When, earlier this year – to much fanfare – Do dressed the K-pop singer JOHNNY of the groups NCT 127 and NCT U for the Met Gala, it spawned a partnership with the Korean entertainment agency SM Entertainment, which paved the way for this season’s special guest stars. Korean superstar JENO of NCT Dream opened the show, while Seulgi of the group Red Velvet sat front row. “This was a full-circle moment for me because Red Velvet’s music was literally such an integral part of the brand. Their songs were the soundtrack of building this brand,” Do said. “Literally, we were building furniture to their music.”