In heart wrenching news, New York Label Cloak, designed by Alexandre Plokhov, will close after all spring 2007 shipments have been sent. The reason? Plokhov didn’t make it clear, but it seems that “both partnership disputes and sales played a role”.
What terrible news to start off the week. For any fashion-conscious men, or rather anyone who could appreciate great design, Cloak was the place to go. Established in 2000, the label experienced a meteoritic rise, resulting in Plokhov tying for 2nd place in the 2004 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards for young fashion upstarts.
His look was dark, militaristic, but always exquisitely tailored and finished. Drawing inspiration from everything from Soviet prison to artist Ernesto Caivano to 80′s Duran Duran, his look was both definitive and widely admired. To see a great talent like Plokhov disappear from the scene makes this a sad day, not only for menswear, but for all of fashion.
