Haider Ackermann's Canada Goose Debut Is the Best Kind of Contradiction
Haider Ackermann for Canada Goose is friction personified — a high fashion virtuoso meets a seven-decade functional archive — and the results are a glorious fusion of two distinct worlds: ruggedly sublime outerwear that fuses the outdoors with contemporary tailoring.
The first drop for Snow Goose, a relaunched line from Canada Goose designed by Ackermann, includes an extensive range of winter wear that is boldly relentless in form, texture, and design.
The vast 60-piece collection boasts nods to the coats of Canada Goose's past, like the Rider Parker, an evolution of the Peacekeeper Parka, and the Celestia Jacket, a classic shirt jacket reimagined by Ackermann.
Exaggerated cinching and pronounced shells elevate the coats' otherwise shapeless exterior, which is very much in line with Ackermann's signature sculptural approach to tailoring and his luxuriously louche MO.
This Snow Goose capsule, available on the Canada Goose website, blends the tactile practicality of winter wear with intentional designs like quilt-patterned sweaters or chunky wool rib knits, resulting in a genre-disrupting collection of outerwear that's less Hallmark classic, more runway alfresco.
Now, when it was first announced that Ackermann would be coming on as Canada Goose's new creative director, an understandable level of confusion wafted through the fashion space.
After all, this is the king of handsome styling, as displayed by his work as a guest designer for Jean Paul Gaultier, as Berluti's creative director, and his current role as Tom Ford's creative director. He's a runway aficionado — what does he know about parkas meant for sub-zero temperatures?
But when you look beneath the handsomely fitted surface, this team-up couldn't make more sense.
After all, this is the same man who released a delightfully neon apparel collaboration with FILA, so even though he's the king of sharp tailoring and exuberant fits, his range extends beyond the upper echelon.
This pair is a meeting of the minds that brings Ackermann's styling genius to a (larger, underserved) audience that doesn't want to compromise style for warmth.
Snow Goose's inaugural release is an amalgamation of a few (in any other circumstances contradictory) concepts that are better together.
