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William Rast's Motorcycle Diaries

Justin Timberlake forms one-fourth of all-American denim label William Rast, and it is a good thing for the rest of the team – Trace Ayala, Marcella and Johan Lindeberg – that there is the Timberlake association. Based on the Fall 2009 showing of the collection at Bryant Park on Monday, Feb. 16, their gaudy brand of biker culture-influenced denim felt too overwrought to be taken seriously as fashionable or desirable clothing.

The show started rather promptly, not more than 15 minutes late, with Timberlake’s girlfriend, actress Jesicca Biel, sliding into her seat champagne in hand just minutes before the show started, refusing to do any interviews. Even though it was her beau’s collection, she didn’t feel the need to offer anything in the way of commentary pre-show.

But once the show started, her facial expressions and body language told all.Derrier-hugging, acid washed, high-waisted skirts with jet bead embroidery garnered approving whispers and smiles between Biel and Timberlake’s mother, Lynn Harless. A thick black blanket-like poncho with the same kind of black beading also incited enthusiastic head nods.

But those are the sort of items that are no-brainers – who wouldn’t love a sexy miniskirt or a poncho that lets you bring your bed with you. In that sense, William Rast is quite saleable, if you’re into that kind of thing. But to say that “we believe that during this coming era of modern America, it is creativity that will be one of the most important ingredients to bring energy into today’s culture,” as they did in their program notes, is misleading. There was nothing creative about this particular collection.

After the umpteenth studded motorcycle jacket and skinny pair of jeans came out – though just because they’re acid-washed and embellished does not necessarily make them “new’ – one had to wonder whether all the thrift stores in the Midwest had seen their stock dry up during the making of this collection.

Citing films like Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish” starring Mickey Rourke as “the Motorcycle Boy” and girlfriends-on-the-road cult classic “Thelma and Louise," William Rast clearly wanted to evoke the tough, free-spiritedness of those film’s protagonists. True, biker chic never goes out of style. But spending money to produce a fashion show during New York fashion week for such uninspired casual wear seemed excessive, which is something a brand supposedly in touch with Americana should already understand.

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