Ooh la la! Look what’s in for men
PARIS CATWALK ABUZZ WITH TRENDS
After the Paris men’s fashion week this weekend, we pick five big trends in the autumn-winter collections: Rarely have the catwalks been so focused on teens and twenty-somethings.
The hoodie conquered all and skate kid chic was everywhere, with Japanese brand Facetasm going so far as to send its models out with what appeared to be fake acne.
The slogans that ran through The Etudes, Lanvin and Chinese brand Sankuanz shows were pure teen spirit: “Never mind”, “Nothing” and “Destroy”.
Dior’s Kris van Assche, whose show was a rallying call for a “new tailoring” aimed at the young, summed up the adolescent fascination.
“I have always been drawn to the moment when boys become men and they are still clinging to dreams and haven’t yet slipped into the straitjacket.” Not since the ’80s heydey of bling branding has fashion had such a fascination with logos.
Dior, Loewe, Balenciaga, Andrea Crews, Louis Vuitton, Icosae and even tastemaker-in-chief Dries Van Noten went logo gaga.
Blame Georgian trendsetter Demna Gvasalia and his Vetements collective, who namechecked no less than 54 big brands in its last show.
Gvasalia was up to his old logo banditry tricks in his show for Balenciaga, appropriating Bernie Sander’s campaign logo, much to the US Democratic Party senator’s amusement. Mixed and gender-fluid shows have been a thing for a while, but now it has almost become the rule to have a few women models in men’s shows, much to the chagrin of some, such as Van Assche, who claims men’s clothes are losing definition. The establishment may be a dirty word politically right now yet fashion can’t get enough of its stuffy symbolism.
The “in” colours of burnt gold, rust brown and red are nothing if not upper class, and aristocratic Prince of Wales overcheck tartan turned up in all places.
Upper crust dandies abounded, most memorably at Ann Demeulemeester, with pinstripes figuring strongly among labels like Christian Dada and Henrik Vibskov.
Overall, informality was king. There was almost no formal wear apart from a handful of red-carpet two pieces at Agnes b.
Dress suits appear to be over, kicked by the onward march of trainers, which were matched with everything from the couture heights of Dior to Balenciaga’s Frankenstein office suits. – AFP