Africa theme takes fashion catwalk by storm in Paris
LEADING designer Louis Vuitton staged a punkish African safari-themed Paris menswear show this week in fittingly stifling heat.
With model Kate Moss and footballer David Beckham melting in the front row, the fashion house that made its name from its steamer trunks in an age of more refined travel, gave the aristocratic “Out of Africa” look a rakishly punk twist.
Vuitton’s British artistic director, Kim Jones, who grew up in Kenya and Botswana, said he wanted to give the gentleman traveller a makeover.
His spring-summer collection for next year was unapologetically macho, a big game hunter gone native, with lots of African touches that go beyond the crocodile and ostrich-skin coats and jackets in Savannah bleached shades.
“There’s always a little London hidden somewhere though,” Jones, who cut the safari motifs with lots of tartan and punkish zips, belts and “dog-collar” leather chokers, said.
He also commissioned the famously provocative British artists, Jake and Dinos Chapman, to create four twisted animal prints featuring giraffes and rhinos.
Tartan was also strongly present in a number of other shows, running through Kolor’s collection yesterday, having popped up the previous day in the Paris debut of another Japanese brand, Facetasm.
And the trendy French brand OAMC went the whole hog with check Crombie-style coats and trousers.
But the most striking looks on the catwalk were from American designer Rick Owens who showcased voluminous “jumbo bodybags” as men’s wraps.