Photo Credit: Patricia Ann Parenti

This tradeshow took place in a historic building in the village at 45 Downing Street in NYC on January 28 – 30, 2025.  The show had a small but curated representation of new and up and coming designers in the men’s and gender-neutral categories. I picked 2 designers to interview that I thought had a fresh perspective to the men’s fashion industry. The two designers I interviewed had jewelry and clothing that I haven’t seen before in the market. Both of the designers used extremely high-quality fabrics and metals. As you can see in my photo above, Hudson Whiskey was a sponsor to the show.  It’s me holding up my delicious drink the bartender made me. Hudson Whiskey is made in NY State and is a very tasty liquor that is great for mixing with juice or soda. For more information on Project Show,  https://www.projectfashionevents.com/en/index.html

I know everyone always asks me for the trends in fashion so here are some of the new men’s trends I saw from walking the floor at the Project Presents In Your Neighborhood Tradeshow. The 1970s and 1980s in men’s fashions are back with pleated trousers, long double-breasted blazers and corduroy fabric which was even used in suits. Trench coats are belted and mid-calf.  Denim is dark and crisp in fabric. Vest that are long have made a comeback also. I mainly saw a palette of neutral colors. 

BURKINDY

I have never seen such a unique and beautiful collection of gender-neutral rings before. The designer (same name as the brand) is from West Africa but makes everything himself in Brooklyn. The designer is the model in these photos and his hands really show off how beautiful the sterling silver rings look on the hands. His inspiration is nature and his main focus is love and unity, He feels nature never makes a second mistake and makes everything beautiful which really pertains to his jewelry. Ring heads are of elephants, scabs, lions, giraffes, cats, and dogs. Everything is hand-made using the old-fashioned way of wax castings. Every ring is casted as a whole and the back and head of the ring aren’t soldered together which is a sign of high craftsmanship. He can also make custom rings in 14k – 18k and platinum rings. Those rings are sized 3- 15 and are priced $100.00 and up. In the upper left-hand corner of the photo, you can see thick sterling silver inlaid with 3 -5 semi-precious stones set in prongs so they don’t fall out. Sized 5 -10 and priced at $500.00 – $600.00. 

Now let’s talk about those thick cowhide leather cuffs that look amazing on the arm and won’t wear out and you will have in for many years to come. What I like about these cuffs is that they have 14k gold plate locks on them so they won’t fall off your wrist. This is a very important feature if you have small wrist like me that non clasp cuffs always fall off my own wrist. His tube leather and brass wrap around bracelets come in black and cognac colors, can be wrapped around the wrist 3-5 times or used as chockers.  Another style cuff is in stealing silver that wraps 2x and clasps into each other and have inlays of marquisette, or blue topaz (as seen in the lower left-hand corner), priced $3,500.00 and will last forever.

All these beautiful pieces of jewelry come with a lifetime warranty. If you bend or break a piece the company will fix and ship it back to you. This blogger that has worked in the jewelry business for years and has seen 1,000’s of collections is going to tell you that this jewelry won’t wear out, nor break from everyday use and you will Definity be able to pass these magnificent pieces to your kids. To purchase the styles on the designer’s hands or have custom work done please go to WWW.BURKINDY.COM

VERYRARE

The name of the brand says it all, meaning that these designs would be very rare to find elsewhere. Raf Reyes is the designer and he is based in Paris. The concept of the collection is artwear and in part is inspired by Japanese Art from the 1800s. Military style jackets (shown in the lower right-hand corner photo) made in modal and quilted for warmth on the inside with tapestry fabric on the outside with leather piping on the pockets, embroidery on the hood and braided rope ties in the hood, and a duck down filled quilted vest with a 3 D print that is seen in the upper left-hand corner of the photo. The front of this vest is as fantastic as the back with the 3 D print that protrudes thru the quilting and a zip pull in silver with enamel inlay that is a piece of jewelry in itself.  I was very impressed with the high-quality heavy prima cotton tee shirt with the prints that represent being the black sheep in the crowd. The tee shirts are screen printed using 12 different colors to give the prints a rich look. Some tee shirts have unusual details such as pleating down the back or catch phrases that are very clever. An example of the tee shirt is in the lower left-hand corner. 

What attracted me to this collection were the unusual jeans that I loved but never find in stores in NYC. The denim is triple washed with ozone for softness and embroidered by hand as seen in the upper right-hand corner. Other style of jeans are cherry blossom moftifs, lazer etching done on the legs, jacquard prints, and a real gender-neutral style that has flower appliques and dip dyed. 

This beautiful collection is reasonably priced for such a high quality, detailed with trendy styles at $39.00 – $49.00 for a tee shirt, sweaters $119.00 – $159.00, jeans $129.00 – $159.00, and hoodies $119.00 – $199.00. Everything is sized S – XXL and the styles are gender netrual. Now go shop at WWW.VERYRARE.CO

PATRICIA ANN PARENTI