Paul Stuart Spring 2012 – A Look at the Lookbook

It’s no secret that Paul Stuart is one of my favorite brands.  All the classics, but with a little bit of panache.  Quality is never lacking, and though prices are not paltry, you’re getting what you pay for.  I got a peek at the Spring 2012 lookbook earlier this week and thought I would share my thoughts.

Before we get too far into this, let me just tell you: lookbooks generally drive me crazy.  They’re either minimalist affairs with human mannequins or way over the top and feature men achieving all manner of daring feats in multi-thousand-dollar suits.

But the folks at Paul Stuart have done something really great for Spring 2012.  The staged shots have this wonderful Old Hollywood feel about them – serious clothes presented with enough whimsey to keep them from looking stiff.  Sure the thing is highly stylized, but in the best way possible.

Not all of the technicolor items are to my taste, and I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to color.  I do really like the socks and pochettes, and if past seasons are any indicator, there will be much more hitting the stores than the other clothes in the book.

Though lime green and chartreuse are not my favorite colors, they do work for some gents, and I’m excited to see the mix of purple hues in person.  It’s always refreshing when a brand doesn’t pick one shade and make everything in the same yarn to reduce costs.  A few mall brands are notorious for this and it makes the shopping experience rather dull.

I’m also very fond of  how the bright color images are presented as punctuation between the black and white staged shots – you’ll have to look below at the full lookbook to get a sense of what I mean.  Not often that one can get philosophical about a lookbook, but it really makes you think about what sorts of colors people are wearing on all those “elegant black and white photos” we admire from the past.

Overall, while not all of the product shots suit my taste, the modeled shots are the best I have seen in a very long time.  Another fine job from Paul Stuart, not that I’m surprised.

And here is a link so you can take a look at the full Paul Stuart Spring 2012 lookbook for yourself.