Colourful tops and cardigans, sleek trouser suits and sportswear mixed with crisp tailoring at identity parade mock-ups featured in New York's first fashion week dedicated to menswear.

More than 50 designers are showcasing their looks for next spring at the four-day event -- New York Fashion Week: Men's -- a debut for the city which previously mixed menswear shows with the bigger and twice-yearly women's catwalk runs.

New York-based designer duo Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow's Public School opted for police line-ups to present their mostly black, white and dark blue spring-summer 2016 collection on Tuesday.

"You might sort of get the traditional images of what you would expect from a police line-up ... contextualising or marginalising a certain race or a certain group of people," Chow said.

"But we wanted to sort of break those notions up and put (in) like really well-dressed men and reinforce the idea that we're all sort of the same when we're lined up side by side."

Standing in line-ups of five, models young and older, posed in tailored coats matched with shorts or in loose trousers topped with elongated sports jackets.

"We don't really do colour. We like to play with proportion, we like to play with texture," Chow said.

Among other designers, David Hart on Monday showed a colourful palette of suits and casual wear in summer colours, some accessorised with beads.

Fashion Week: Men's, launched by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, ends on Thursday.