Three days after his debut as creative director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s line, Pharrell Williams sat front row on Friday with Kim Jones celebrating his first five years at the helm of giant LVMH’s other jewel, Dior Men. Undeterred, with his diamond glasses, dressed in his own collection and with a bag from the same line, Williams was able to take credit for the merits that Jones has used in five years to build an impressive legacy in the men’s department of the very experienced Parisian house. Mainly because Jones dared to invent new things in addition to his usual achievements – sports tailoring, sewing techniques, appliqué jewelry on garments, use of handcrafted fabrics usually reserved for women’s fashion.
For example, a new type of trousers with creases, wide but not too wide, and short above the ankle, aimed at changing the masculine silhouette. It’s a complex, almost utopian task, but Jones has achieved a handful of milestones, from reviving the men’s saddlebag to introducing padding, embroidery and beaded appliqués to menswear. Evidence of this was the very large number of celebrities, from actress Demi Moore to singer J Balvin, who crowded the front row of the parade.
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The day before, a few meters from the École Militaire where the Dior show was held, Givenchy had presented a proposal for its electronic and nocturnal tailoring, which is the hallmark of designer Matthew Williams, in the courtyard of Les Invalides. And one day later, on Saturday June 24th, Jonathan Anderson presented his new coup de effect at Loewe: a collection inspired by the distortion of perspectives, which is much more than just rhetoric. For example, his high-waisted pants, almost hyperbolic, showing why his shows in Paris were usually the most applauded.
Three of the proposals of the new Loewe collection presented in Paris. Peter White (Getty Images)
Like Kenzo, who walked the show Friday night, LVMH owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Loewe. For the luxury giant chaired by Bernard Arnault, menswear seems to be far more than just a playground. Its main competitor, the Kering group, usually runs mixed fashion shows, which this year – which is not the norm – are grouped together in women’s fashion week. Thus, men’s fashion week in Paris, which began on Tuesday 20th and lasted until Sunday 25th June, has left an interesting snapshot of the prominence that menswear has acquired within the luxury group. With the greatest weight in the world, especially after the arrival and consolidation of a generation of creative directors, versed in music, design and art, who see their respective brands not only as style factories but also as incubators of icons. They produce recognizable bags, veteran logos made desirable again, and a solid conceptual framework that doesn’t preclude flirting with celebrities at a time when the world’s most recognizable artists – from Rihanna to Beyoncé to the actors of Elite or Succession – they embrace avant-garde again. In this war machine of French luxury, a blend of digital soft power, sublime craftsmanship and conceptual mystery, menswear has taken on the role of icebreaker. And that’s why, for years, men’s fashion week in Paris has become an observatory for new things.
Singer and actor Jared Leto poses upon arrival at the Givenchy show June 22 at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris.GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT (AFP)
The return to tailoring, elegance and a certain sumptuous sophistication already evident at the last Milan Fashion Week is reflected in the collections of both large and small companies. Suits are once again of interest to young designers, from Botter, with his meticulous craftsmanship, to Israeli Hed Mayner, a pioneer in creating fluid, luminous Mediterranean tailoring. Études and Lemaire explore clear visions of everyday wardrobe not far from Véronique Nichanian’s proposal for Hermès, a classic of relaxed luxury. Dries Van Noten proposes a new silhouette, more stylized and fluid, without giving up his interest in prints. Even a born provocateur like Louis Gabriel Nouchi, whose previous shows had been a riot of celebrity and eroticism, included more jackets than underwear in his collection for the coming summer.
Three of the proposals presented at the Hermès show on June 24 during men’s fashion week in Paris. Michel Euler (AP) / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT (AFP)
Among the most exciting surprises is the work of the very young Burc Akyol, finalist of the last edition of the LVMH Prize, a designer of Turkish origin who affirms that his ideal are the couture houses of the mid-20th century. And its gender-neutral collection exudes an air of couture, sophistication, craftsmanship and short distances that often compels many designers to settle in Paris. The Japanese Yohji Yamamoto, who had been designing and producing clothes in Tokyo for a decade for a decade, thought the same thing more than 40 years ago and felt that the French capital was the one that best suited his desire for sophistication and luxury. Last Thursday, a crowd of believers in their dark and unstructured robes of poetry and punk rebellion coexisted with new converts like singers Maluma and Rauw Alejandro, drawn to the legend of a designer Millennials and Zetas knew mostly through his sophisticated productions for Y -3, his Adidas line.
One of the proposals for next spring by Burc Akyol, a finalist in the last edition of the LVMH Prize.
Devotion also inspires Rick Owens, excessive, dark and always disturbingly precise. On this occasion, sheer fabrics and orthopedic-inspired boots were added to her models, with minimal waists and elongated legs, in black skirts and pants, paraded in her usual setting, the terrace of the Palais de Tokyo, amid rockets, firecrackers and gunpowder shots. A few days later, Owens himself attended the show of another of his standout students, Frenchman Ludovic de Saint Sernin, whose sexy and elegant vision of 1990s fashion hinges heavily on the American’s techno-luxe.
Spring-Summer 2024 Collection by Rick Owens presented at Paris Men’s Fashion Week on June 22.Victor VIRGILE (Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images)
Fashion has its own rituals and audience. Based on the famous pleats that the Japanese designer, who died in August 2022, patented in the ’80s, Issey Miyake’s Homme Plissé line aims to celebrate each season with a colorful wardrobe essential, featuring his own fabrics and a healthy sense of familiarity. Something similar happens with Walter Van Beirendonck, a survivor of the avant-garde generation of the Antwerp Six, whose relevance is due both to his collections and to the influence he has had on a large segment of the designers who define fashion today, including many who, from Bernhard Willhelm to Raf Simons, studied or worked with him at the Antwerp fashion school. Stuck in a happy niche, Van Beirendonck has mastered socially critical graphic prints: to mark the occasion, he invented a cryptographic alphabet to address issues such as gender, justice and ecology, demonstrating why the catwalk is still, nearly four decades after its debut, a suitable place to talk about many other things.
Walter van Beirendonck runway show in Paris on June 21, 2023. Associated Press/LaPresse (Associated Press/LaPresse)
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