A focus on real clothes that real men want to wear
Sharp suiting, safari chic and silk dust coats: Stephen Doig reports from Paris spring/summer 2017 men’s shows on the highlights for next year
The anniversary with an Anglo-French feel
While Britain was in a voting frenzy on the eve of Brexit, British designer Kim Jones took over the heart of establishment Paris in the gardens of the Palais Royal. While the rest of Europe focused on Britain, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s ready-to-wear celebrated five years at the house by looking to lands far away (by way of Camden Market), watched by Kate Moss and David Beckham.
Africa is a recurring theme in Jones’s work; a keen conservationist, he spent his childhood on the continent and its wildlife, flora and fauna are a source of endless fascination to him. That sense of journeys to exotic lands also chimes with Vuitton’s romantic heritage as a luggage outfitter.
The creatures of the Serengeti wound their way into Jones’s clothes in illustrated form, thanks to the work of British art duo Jake and Dinos Chapman. Giraffe heads dipped and big cats prowled over silk shirts and bomber jackets, while zebra prints graced tops, shoes and boxy cases, and the house’s “Gaston V” formed a zig-zag effect in tribal beadwork. The crisp, cool safari suit in fawn looked entirely covetable in the 33 degree heat of Paris.
Sojourns to Africa aside, Jones cut his teeth as an urban streetwear designer in London and a British sensibility is never far from his work, with an anarchic punk influence bubbling through. Shaggy mohair sweaters were styled with knife-sharp, second-skin trousers riddled with zips and stomping brothel creepers, the models jangling with safety pins on ears, or fastened to belts. All of this, with the kind of Parisian luxury and polish one expects from a house like Vuitton – artisanal beadwork, nudecolour crocodile trench coats and bombers and liquid silks and suedes.
Jones’s happy marriage with Louis Vuitton has cemented his place as one of the strongest men’s fashion talents working today, and this collection – one of the best SS17 shows – shows brilliantly how wit, artistic cool and haute refinement can be carried off.
The reality-dressing that any man would covet
In the international men’s style arena, London is a byword for impeccable tailoring, Milan for playboy flamboyance and Paris for the kind of tricky conceptualism that would cause alarm if you wore it down the local bridge club (see Rick Owens’s men in dresses with cut-out holes flashing their unmentionables from last season). But away from the feathered suits (as seen at Thom Browne) and elongated sequin tops (at Givenchy), Paris designers are focusing on real clothes that men want to wear. Heritage Paris house Berluti – rudderless at the moment, with former tourde-force Alessandro Sartori moving to Zegna – unveiled a collection perfectly in tune with the contemporary man’s needs. Paperfine taupe leather blazers, butter-soft suede cargo jackets in cobalt, and relaxed denim chambray jackets were a reminder that Berluti has bragging rights when it comes to the best materials from the most exalted mills across Italy. The number of industry folks pawing the masculine and expertly executed clothes was evidence enough of their covetability. Not a feathered big bird outfit in sight.
The shoes to see you through any eventuality
English shoe designer Paul Andrew has carved a niche as a top-notch women’s shoe designer, but this season he took a further step – excuse the pun – into a man’s wardrobe with his second showing of men’s shoes. And while the aesthetics are pleasing in themselves – handsome
leather brogues, minimalist derby shoes, elegant sandals – the technical wizardry within set Andrew’s shoes apart. The designer developed a flexible leather sole on formal shoes to bring a more pliable element to “proper” footwear (any man who’s tried to pack a clumpy pair of formal brogues will know the pain of lugging them to the departure gate).
The champions of affordable luxury…
Away from the rarefied environs of Place Vendôme, Paris has long been ahead of the curve in pushing demographic, effortlessly cool, easy men’s clothing. Officine Generale is a stellar case in point; designer Pierre Maheo creates clothes that refuse the whim of trends, committed to simply making the perfect coat, the sleekest bomber, all in Italian or Japanese materials at reasonable, just-above-high-street prices. Similarly, Alexandre Mattiussi at Ami (who recently launched a London store) has long championed a low-key, everyday ease with his zip-up tops in nutmeg shades and soft-fit tailoring, while at Sandro, Ilan Chétrite’s message was about wearability; light silk bombers, leather jackets and relaxed suiting that took the pomp out of Paris elite dressing.
The big easy
“It’s about lightness and airiness”, said Jason Basmajian, the front man at Cerruti. Tailoring in high temperatures is a tricky beast, but Basmajian led the way with soft-fit, drop-shoulder suits in soft, barely there colours and unlined silk dust coats that sat away from the body. Dries van Noten and Kris Van Assche at Dior Homme let the seams out, too, on loose-fit, fluid jackets and trousers that tolled a death knell for the skinny silhouette. Take it from a man who has sat uncomfortably trussed-up in suits as the mercury soared; these new proportions are as fresh as a cool breeze.
Peace and love
It’s been a tumultuous few weeks, with international terrorism and financial chaos, so Paul Smith sent a message of “Peace” down the catwalk. It was emblazoned on T-shirts, while rainbow prints daubed shirts and doodled across jeans. Even the most august of houses, Hermès, embraced joyful bright colour with its man this season going on a tie-dye-tinged gap year in batik patterns. You’d be forgiven for wanting to join him.