JOEY Samson drew inspiration from ?imperfections? as a foil to the human anatomy to produce a 34-piece collection consisting mostly of tailored and layered separates for men and women in neutral shades.

Samson, this week?s designer in ?Fashion Watch,? didn?t disappoint in his tightly edited attempt to take his trademark tailoring beyond what he considers usual. What a tall order it was considering his reputation as a superb tailor.

The point of the entire exercise, in Samson?s words, was to go ?beyond? what people normally expect of you as a designer without completely turning your back on your roots.

?I can only go beyond what I can do if I can still manage to incorporate what I?m doing with what I think I can still do,? he said.

Produced by Inno Sotto and Joji Dingcong, the last in a series of four is staged every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at Makati Shangri-La.

The year-long series is sponsored by Nokia, Belo Essentials, Globe Asiatique and Metrobank Femme Visa. (Next week?s designer is Ivarluski Aseron).

Relying on his keen eye for proportion, Samson was in his element reinventing such basic components as sleeves, cuffs, waistbands, collars, plackets and bibs. In keeping with his decision to zero in on the waist, silhouettes were tight and structured, with a few notable exceptions.

?It?s about time, especially for men, to show off their waists,? said Samson. ?I?ve had enough of hipsters and low-rise trousers. Besides, I feel that you can do a lot with a streamlined silhouette as opposed to the slouchy.?

Except for Samson?s two colored pieces, the same sleek approach was evident in his women?s wear. He also tried to balance off some of his models? seemingly perfect figures with strategic imperfections in the form of structured and at times exaggerated fabric treatments on the chest, back and hips.

?Even though a certain dress? proportion is sleek and slim, it can still use a bit of imperfection like humpy details to make it look well-balanced and interesting,? he said.

Cool, lightweight

Although Samson?s collection might seem a tad too warm to wear in a tropical country, it was made, he insisted, from relatively cool materials such as cotton twill, lightweight wool and silk.

?Lightweight wool happens to be my favorite even if some say it?s only meant for abroad,? he said.

Janylin provided the ladies? platform shoes, while Traffic provided the men?s Kartel sneakers.

He also did a great deal of layering that went beyond the usual: shorts over cropped leggings; pants that seemed to be falling off a man?s behind only to reveal yet another pair of pants; and an intricately corded dress over a flesh-toned stretched material worn by model Ria Bolivar.

?That dress proved too tedious to do,? he said, referring to the corded and knotted piece. ?I was working on it up to this morning.?

Apart from cording, he limited his embellishments to tiered and bias-cut panels (Angel Aquino?s dress), contrasting neutral shades, tone-on-tone embroidery (which he used with superb results on the back of one of his men?s jackets), undone and built-in bow ties and neckties, and strategic cutouts on several close-to-the-body numbers.

One of Bolivar?s dresses (certain models had to walk twice to fill in for several no shows), an ivory number, was beautiful and beguiling. Each panel on the bodice ended up as collars that eventually progressed into sleeves. You?ve got to see it for yourself.

Of all the elements Samson employed, only the cutouts were a bit out of place. Although they weren?t exactly superfluous or out of synch with the rest of the details, they seemed to have lowered the collection?s chic factor by a few notches.

For all we know, however, such a move on the designer?s part might have been deliberate. As Samson pointed out, one could always find beauty and harmony even in imperfection.