After our local Copenhagen Fashion Week, the others that followed were a bit of a mixed bag. New York was meh, London hardly existed at all, Milan was mostly rather uninspiring but then Paris came out in a blaze of creativity (Givenchy! Dries! Alaia! Womenswear was really on a roll here!) We watched them all (sadly only via live streams this time) but amongst the relatively few co-ed shows, these were our favourites
Simone Rocha
Rocha only started introducing menswear to her collections in her H&M collab a couple of years ago but, despite her signature look being very feminine (all pearls and bows and frills), she’s doing a pretty good job at building a convincing line. This time there were lots of fake fur trims (a big trend for next winter), some great outerwear and biker leathers to add a bit of edge to the prettiness.
Gucci
After the departure of Sabato de Sarno, the design of this season was left to the studio and we think they did really rather a good job with the task. The menswear played to Gucci’s strengths – great sense of colour, lovely textures and some interesting proportions. Shame fashion houses feel the need to have a ‘star’ at the helm though and so this subtle and wearable look will soon be replaced by Demna’s vision and we all know what THAT will probably look like…
Tom Ford
This was the inaugural show by new Tom Ford creative director Haider Ackermann and he played an absolute blinder. Both the women’s and the men’s collections had all the full-throttle high-octane sex appeal and beautiful quality we expect from the brand. There was a ton of butter-soft leather, nods to both Bowie and American Psycho and sky-high price tags on everything. Even Anna Wintour joined the standing ovation (fashion fans will know that’s an extremely rare occurrence).
Ludovic de Saint Sernin
Fresh from his successful collection as a guest designer for Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture, the glamorously named Ludovic de Saint Sernin showed another side of masculinity to Tom Ford. This version tapped into the same Bowie-in-The-Hunger vibe but in a much more languid and sensuous way – less New York and more Paris perhaps. The results were pretty good and showed an increasingly strong statement from a brand that has yet to hit the mainstream.
Lacoste
Lacoste continued their determination for the brand to expand beyond the clay courts and into a full-blown designer label. Of course, tennis references were everywhere but upgraded from pique polos to beautiful knits and stylish versions of tracksuit bottoms. But the tailoring was strong too and there is a sense of wit running through the collection that worked very well. We particularly LOVED the crocodile logo translated into huge statement brooches.
