Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Paris Fashion Week: Subdued, but not defeated

When the travelling fashion circus arrived in Paris, after Milan last week, the menswear marathon began its final lap. However, unlike the heady celebration in the Italian city, there was a subdued atmosphere at the first day of Paris Fashion Week menswear shows — which began in earnest following the French capital’s worst terror attacks in decades. The mantra was: “The show must go on.”

When the travelling fashion circus arrived in Paris, after Milan last week, the menswear marathon began its final lap. However, unlike the heady celebration in the Italian city, there was a subdued atmosphere at the first day of Paris Fashion Week menswear shows — which began in earnest following the French capital’s worst terror attacks in decades. The mantra was: “The show must go on.”

“Of course, the show must go on — but I hope, even in this quite privileged milieu, we keep an eye on everyday reality,” said fashion designer Alessandro Sellaretti, attending the Valentino show at the posh Hotel de Rothschild. “The catwalk is a window for the collections and they’re designed to make people dream, but it’s also there to boost fashion’s economy, as it has also taken a hit. You can’t completely cover things up.”

Actor Louis Garrel arrived late at Valentino and joined The Hobbit star Luke Evans and pop star Stromae in the front row. But it was a pared-down celebrity pack at this, the day’s biggest show, following previous seasons’ big-hitters such as Will Smith.

Fashionistas chatted away at Valentino of half-empty planes from New York and eerily silent Paris hotels. Others dramatised stories of their relatives imploring them to avoid Paris altogether after the attacks that had left 17 victims and three gunmen dead this month, including the strike at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office.

Designer Walter van Beirendonck’s collection featured clothes with Stop Terrorizing Our World emblazoned on the front and showed that even in its elite bubble, the fashion world isn’t completely immune to world events.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me this week, ‘Don’t go to Paris!’ But if I didn’t come, then the terrorists would have won,” said photographer Ed Kavishe, while fashion designers Nicolas Ghesquiere, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and model Caroline de Maigret have expressed their support for journalistic freedom by posting “Je suis Charlie” and the symbolic image of a pen on social media.

Valentino’s diverse show, one of the shows that kicked off Paris Fashion Week, took its starting point from the 1920s’ Ballets Russes: The Russian movement’s famed founder Sergei Diaghilev worked with the greatest artists of the time, including Pablo Picasso, to create incredible costumes and sets. In this menswear show, the Italian house drew on the strong, colour-rich geometry of these artistic collaborations, with a dash of the ’60s. Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli produced an angular, often sharp and pattern-rich display — with myriad references including Scottish tartan and the now-signature militaristic camouflage.

There were some enviable looks: The luxuriant green-and-brown shot silken fitted suits and the oversized statement coats. Geometric patterns on sweaters and in fastidiously detailed coats came across sometimes as ’60s and, elsewhere, as almost Balkan. It further explored the current mania for ethnic-looking motifs. Bold colours — mid-blues, golden brown and burgundy — set the patterns alight, but there were those who questioned whether the palette was a tad too bold for the average Joe.

Over at Belgian designer Raf Simons’ show, there was an increasing rawness and informality. It’s perhaps to do with the new standing-only policy where guests huddle haphazardly together, which does away with the elite hierarchy that the seated collections bring. But in Wednesday’s fall-winter show, the rawness appeared again in the deconstructed nature of the clothes and unfinished set: Metal scaffolding that featured beam lights and messy coloured film.

In the 41 looks, edges were often frayed on long, voluminous column silhouettes in gray and blue, broken up with flashes of crimson and canary yellow. Flappy beige trench coats had sleeves torn off. White chemistry-class aprons featured hand-drawn doodles. And hair was made to look like it was styled by a greasy and rebellious adolescent.

While some didn’t care for the repetition of a hummingbird motif, which seemed uninspired, and frayed holes in high-school-style knitted tank tops that didn’t look particularly original or classy, Simons got top marks for some highly original silhouettes, such as a sartorial, minimalist jerkin that hung down like a college dandy.

A designer that many have called a rising star in menswear is Julien David, who offered a confident collection that could be summed up as “the ’50s-man-gets-sporty”. The smarter elements in his broad and baggy suit jackets — in charcoal grey and black — were broken up with the French designer’s signature love of casual. Untucked white shirts came alongside loose ties, lop-sided tie pins and scruffily open coats. Hair bands, baggy shorts and shades, meanwhile, gave this collection a sporty edge. Proceedings were given more complexity with smart references to Japanese wardrobe, such as Samurai straps or voluminous layers on a boxy silhouette.

Paris Fashion Week is among the most global of its kind, where one day you can see the latest collections from Belgian labels, such as Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Maison Margiela; and on another, those from Japan, including Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garcons, Miharayasuhiro and Sacai. (Speaking of Japan, this season sees the return of an old idol of the Japanese-fashion cognoscenti: Takahiro Miyashita, of the cult-worshipped line Number (N)ine, who is showing his post-(N)ine collection, The Soloist, by appointment.)

After tumult in Milan last week, Paris offers more creative satisfactions even if it hints at fewer immediate highs and lows. AGENCIES

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.