PARIS — Paris Men’s Fashion Week was in full swing on Wednesday in its first full day of runway collections promoting a dynamic season that showcased brands including Dior, Vuitton, Loewe and Givenchy, reeling from the pandemic.
Here are some highlights from the fall-winter 2023-24 shows:
A TALE OF TWO GIVENCHYS
Guests in unwieldy heels navigated the cobblestones to enter the historic grounds of the Ecole Militaire, past a giant, minimalist black sign reading “GIVENCHY” and guests sipping on ginger shots and detox tea. The purified vibe matched the pared-down white decor.
The collection itself was harder to pin down. It could be described as a tale of two Givenchys.
The first was a display of excellent minimalist tailoring that designer Matthew M. Williams says “has a different hand”, and was done in collaboration with the house’s couture atelier.
The second was a story of being a little busy: an aesthetic, inspired by an image of the painter Lucien Freud tossing a coat over paint-splattered work boots, that dominated the 52-looks show with its urbane, messy layering, jarring colors and intentionally mismatched clothing.
The brief burst of monochrome suits that kicked off the show ushered in a welcome new direction for the house under Williams’ tenure. It was a pity that this theme was not developed further as the exhibition progressed.
The suits featured sharp lines, well-pointed shoulders, and cinched waists that turned the silhouette into an elongated hourglass. They were, the house said, “defiantly unhemmed at the seams.” Black gloves gave these looks a playful, sinister quality.
“The world has a lot of options for everyone,” Williams said. “That’s what’s so beautiful about Givenchy: a brand that makes T-shirts for…young people and then there are people who want to buy couture tailored jackets. It runs the gamut.”
BLUEMARBLE EXPLORE IDENTITIES
Bluemarble counts actor Timothee Chalamet and singer Justin Bieber among its fans. Some amusing guests in the front row asked if designer Anthony Alvarez was making a statement with his fall fare about how religiously followed the brand has become.
His dazzling display inside the American Cathedral was a typical melting pot of streetwear, tailoring, and country and cross-cultural references.
Álvarez, who was born in New York and has Filipino, Spanish, French and Italian roots, uses her various identities as a touchstone of style. The brand name itself is global, taken from an iconic photo of Earth taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew.
Faded blue jeans and bright yellow loafers paid homage to that decade on Wednesday. A huggable heather gray knit featured the brand’s name emblazoned on it and led the way for a myriad of shaggy, multicolored throwback styles that looked part Woodstock, part yeti.
But there were also clever moments, such as the mask motifs appearing on baggy sweaters and raising questions about the nature of true identity.
THE FRESH CONTAINMENT OF BIANCA SAUNDERS
A cool, minty vibe pervaded Bianca Saunders’ third show in Paris.
He came from an often oversized, minimalist aesthetic that could move effortlessly between cultures and subtly channeled his British and Jamaican background.
Flashes of color, like a bright neon blue T-shirt, met an otherwise minimalist collection that was great precisely because of its restraint.
The first look, a version of a tailored suit, brought in clean, sanitized lines to project minimalism, or what the house says is Saunders “addressing the tension between tradition and modernity.”
Other moments were fun and thoughtful, like an oversized rock gray coat worn on a model with oversized bangs that fell over her eyeline.
An Andam Prize winner, Saunders, one of the few menswear designers, is a welcome addition to the Paris calendar.
CHANNELS SAINT LAURENT BLACK
The house that redefined women’s fashion with men’s tuxedos in the 1960s has lurched in the opposite direction this season.
Designer Anthony Vaccarello brought the dark, elongated silhouettes of Saint Laurent’s women’s wardrobe to a gender-fluid and aesthetically accurate fall men’s display.
However, the 46-piece collection, while full of black, was sometimes short on fresh ideas.
Floor-length, “Matrix”-esque leather coats, with Vaccarello’s trademark exaggerated shoulders, found their place alongside slicked-back hair and sunglasses, but also tuxedo coats and tie-back collars. exuberant bows that evoke the era of the New Romantics.
A shiny black leather tie contrasted against a matte black wool coat was typical style for the Belgium-born designer, but nonetheless one of the highlights of the show.
The front row was notable and included French actress Beatrice Dalle, in an oversized tuxedo coat, peering out from under black sunglasses.
Jenna Ortega, the star of Netflix’s hit show “Wednesday,” was photographed arriving in a black column gown with a hood.
LGN BECOMES A PSYCHOLOGIST
In keeping with tradition, up-and-coming French designer Louis Gabriel Nouchi once again based his collection on the theme of a book.
This season, Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho” spawned a playful, if sometimes overly literal interpretation of the themes of the famous story of a deranged murderous executive, perhaps inhabiting every American businessperson (the writer suggests).
A white shirt look was accessorized with shiny black gloves of a killer, while a wide-shouldered, double-breasted wool jacket with an androgynous maxi skirt evoking the 1980s was worn in a (faux) blood-splattered pattern. in your face.
The draping, in torch-red fabric that billowed tightly over the body, evoked the cellophane in which murderer Patrick Bateman wrapped his victims.
Colors included blood red, black and white to evoke the office, as well as what the house called “town bench” blue.
Source: news.google.com