Getting a jump on the Resort season, Diesel Black Gold‘s Andreas Melbostad was in New York this week, showing off his second collection for the brand. Studded with leather biker jackets, it’s a continuation of his confident, cool February outing, but with a somewhat gentler feel. The look is influenced by workwear—Melbostad mentioned painters, plaster workers, and even firemen, and, in keeping with those influences, coated denim with a white dust or added oversize metal toggles to jackets. Still, the results seemed subtler here. Chalk that up to several things, among them the prevalence of white and ivory (counterpointed, of course, with plenty of black), his use of silk on a couple of short, breezy dresses, and an absence of the kind of hardware that gave his earlier clothes such a tough-girl feel.

The collection’s black-and-white print was designed, Melbostad said, to resemble an “aggressive bandanna.” As graphic as the printed jeans, T-shirts, and paneled sweaters looked, they were the least persuasive, mostly because they looked somewhat familiar. A hybridized tuxedo jacket combining silk twill and denim played to the brand’s strengths, and the designer’s. Other likely hits: denim separates that combined three different washes, and a fitted, almost strict indigo utility jacket. More of a surprise was a chunky fisherman sweater that gave off an almost preppy vibe. That was something new from Melbostad. Alluding to his upcoming show in September, he promised he’ll be expanding the Black Gold vocabulary even further.
—Nicole Phelps
Runway Feed