After Milan, the menswear fashion circus picked up their fancy Rimowa carry-ons and moved to Paris, generally thought to be the creative heart of the industry. Cue a full week of back-to-back shows and some very strong presentations. Generally, money is no object here so we expect – and get – spectacle but there were beautiful and wearable clothes too and many of the season’s big trends were rubber-stamped.
Here are some of our favourites.
Dior Men
In a true tour-de-force show, Dior shows why they are at the top of their game these days. With a collection based on Rudolph Valentino, the collection featured impeccable tailoring (note the half-popped collar styling, seen in quite a few shows this season), beautiful accessories and, in a first for the house, a series of menswear couture outfits that highlighted the craftsmanship of the atelier. After all, who doesn’t fancy popping to the corner shop for a carton of milk wearing a handmade kimono (complete with train) over shorts?
Paul Smith
This season is one that really plays to Sir Paul’s strengths: a focus on tailoring combined with rich colour mixes and quirky but wearable styling (in this case scarves tied at the back) are right up his London street. His well-cast parade of boys (and some girls) showed impeccable takes on classic pieces with just enough oomph to make you stand out from the crowd without being ridiculous. We particularly loved the proportions of this oversized Mac (please note: coats are LONG next winter. Very long…)
Ami
A big Editors’ favourite for offering good style at an attractive price point, Ami had a great show last week. Presented on an inspiring mix of ages (quite a few models brought out of semi-retirement for this one), the collection ticked a lot of this season’s major trends (excellent tailoring, monochromatic head-to-toe colour and those mid-calf trousers again) but with a wearable ease that had the perfect Parisian attitude.
Dries Van Noten
Dries always delivers when it comes to menswear, managing to show the perfect balance of creativity and wearability. As well as being a master of colour and print, he also knows a thing or two about proportion, beautifully highlighted in this cotton jacket with big jersey (we think removable) knitted cuffs. Like many designers, he showed lots of versions of cargo pants which are one step tooooo Y2K for us but his versions in velvet almost won us over.
Comme des Garçons
One of the very few designers who genuinely straddle the border between clothing and art, Rei Kawakubo has been at the forefront of avant-garde design for over forty years and shows no sign of losing her touch. We rarely feature her shows however as they can be VERY challenging (whereas in-store, her clothes are surprisingly wearable) but this season she played a blinder with a collection that made cutting-edge look easy to wear. This jacket with raw edge slits at the waist is equal parts classic and unexpected and she makes pleated skirts for men seem like a totally convincing sartorial choice.
Loewe
Another brand that centres itself firmly in avant-garde circles (though in this case as the creative background to selling expensive leather accessories) is Loewe. Designed by Englishman JW Anderson (see our Milan report), this collection had the just-pulled-on vibe of a young guy’s bed-sit wardrobe with leather parkas worn with no trousers, kitsch knitwear and a lot of luxury sportswear but the result was effortlessly stylish and very sexy. The styling, as always, was superb.
Hermés
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell one season’s Hermes collection from another and there is really no bigger compliment. Whilst we didn’t like this show as much as last year but the clothes are consistently chic, luxurious, well-considered and, of course, insanely expensive so designer Veronique Nichanian (at the helm for a staggering thirty-plus years) feels no need to reinvent the wheel every six months. These clothes will stay in your wardrobe for decades and are created with that intention. And if you can afford a Hermes hand dyed sweater you can probably afford the matching cardigan to make it a manly twin-set. Sadly we can’t so we just drool instead.
