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Paris fashion week: Menswear is still in its quiet luxury era
Summary
Most designers presented clean and palate-cleansing clothing with an intense focus on details
It's been a fall-winter season of clean, spare and palate-cleansing clothing with an intense focus on details, going by the menswear presentations during Paris Fashion Week.
Kim Jones at Dior Men celebrated coquette-core of sorts, with models wearing semi-opaque bows as a blindfold along with borrowed-from-the-granny knitwear and cropped jumpers with bow detailing on the sleeves.
Informed by Dior’s haute couture collection of fall 1954-55, the show opened with a voluminous pair of trousers that looked like a taffeta ball skirt. On closer inspection, though, it was neither a trouser nor a skirt but a coat worn backwards. Trompe-l'œil elements evoking a suprise have often appeared in Jones' works; for instance, the beads used as shirt stripes and a shoulder sprinkling raindrop effect.
Hermès menswear, steeped in stealth chic, was another highlight of the season, with a focus on luxe outerwear crafted in the maison's signature buttery leather and chic knits. Top coats, toggle coats and car coats worn over snuggly knit turtlenecks set the mood for a cozy winter dressing, which is high on quiet luxury.
Here are some of the key menswear trends that emerged at the recently concluded Paris menswear fashion week:
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Optical illusion
Dior Men's opening look was a coat worn as a bottom separate with the collar creating a kind of an asymmetric cummerbund. What's more, the tucked-in sleeves, shaped into pockets with buttons, ran down the back. Jones drew parallels between the 20th century coat and contemporary men’s tailoring. The footwear, too, came accented with satin bow tips, and blousons were crafted with glossy leather bonded with wetsuit neoprene underneath.
Another pièce de résistance was a pink silk faille swing coat accented with another bow at the back of the neck. The finale ensemble comprising a silver floral-embroidered belted kimono coat evoked instant desirability.
At Acne Studio, the brand’s signature trompe l’oeil jeans were styled with a grid cotton overdyed shirt that could be worn both as a longsleeve and short. Shackets worn with ties over voluminous double-silk chinos were the other highlights.
Retro touch
Paul Smith's charming show took us back to the sixties and the seventies. A raglan-sleeve gray herringbone jacket looked preloved and had a worn out feel, embodying a vintage vibe. Another highpoint of the season was the Amiri show, which seemed to draw from the vintage Los Angeles styling. Think Gucci in the Tom Ford era. Hence came in draped jackets, embellished ties, shine-on embroidered bomber jackets and tailored plaid trousers.
Also read: Milan fashion week: Designers make formalwear more casual
Shaggy shearling
Shearling and faux fur, which were the mainstay at Milan made their presence felt in Paris, too.
Ami's take on shaggy shearling enveloping the collar of a parka for men and in the textured coats both long and short for women stood out. Paul Smith also sent out a green leather jacket with a shearling collar.
Body positivity
LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi's showcase was an interplay between bold-shouldered tailoring and skin-skimming body-wear. The designer has always been a champion of inclusivity and the body-positive casting of the showcase attested to that.
EgonLab, too, celebrated disruptive designs, seen in his slim tailored jackets and coats crafted with come-hither tailoring. An array of cinched-at-the-waist single button jackets with wide, rounded sleeves were other headturners.
Acne Studio's itsy-bitsy boxer and bicycle shorts nodded in favour of celebrating one's body as well.
Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer and content creator.
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