Palmiers du Mal takes a young Pope on a safari for spring 2018

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jul 14, 2017

Palmiers du Mal closed the second day of NYFW: Men’s on Wednesday with a fashion presentation and party at Rose Bar in the Gramercy Park Hotel.
 
Launched by Brandon Capps and Shane Fonner in 2015, Palmiers du Mal is a luxury resort label, boasting opulent loungewear crafted by Italian artisans. For fall 2017, Fonner drew inspiration from pink panthers, gentleman thieves like Ocean’s Eleven, and for spring 2018, the designer told a tale of a young Pope going on a safari.

 

The collection debuted in a dimly lit, intimate setting suitable for extravagant celebrations. The show notes played on religious themes, with terms like Palm Wednesday, a mashup of Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, the beginning and ending of the Lenten period, and fake psalms that praise the wicked. Fonner undoubtedly drew inspiration from the HBO drama The Young Pope that stars Jude Law as Pius XIII, the first American Pope in history, who is resistant to the Vatican’s traditions.
 
David LaChapelle’s provocative photos of rapper Lil’ Kim and Paris Hilton adorned the walls of Rose Bar, further celebrating the non-pious playboys.

The collection’s details and fabric choices highlight Fonner’s second inspiration for the collection: South Africa. The New York City-based designer had traveled to the country before and used his experience as a starting point for the spring 2018 collection.
 
Animal prints like a zebra and Dalmatian patterns on caftans and smocks, a pink fur Italian smoking jacket, safari shirts and floral patterns reference the safari theme in the collection, as well as the Kedu blanket wrap that is fit for Eddie Murphy in Coming to America or a young Pope.
 
In addition, oversized silhouettes and luxurious velvet lounge pants and terry pants call for leisure.