Six new show-stopping looks for men
The catwalk shows featured fresh prints, a riotous colour palette – and a political protest, reports Stephen Doig
GIVENCHY
The fashionshow-as-protest-platform lives on: creative director Riccardo Tisco expressed his outrage at injustices in South America, installing cages throughout the set, with giant metal gaoler’s keys dangling from models’ necks. They also wore pleated skirts, longline T-shirts and sportswear-inspired shapes, hinting at Hispanic and Latino streetwear.
HERMES
Print is to Hermès what the camellia emblem is to Chanel: a pillar to be played with. Creative director Véronique Nichanian wove subtle print into almost every aspect, alongside more austere pieces that let exceptional fabrication do the talking. From abstract paisley-esque swirls to succulent leaves wending up silken scarves, and clover leaves on jackets to delicate roses on T-shirts.
PAUL SMITH
Sir Paul has licence to mine the silhouettes of the Seventies, given that he founded his shirt business then. The designer offered two trouser cuts: narrow pegs straight from the Glam Rock school; and soft, loose, free-flowing shapes that floated away from the leg. The experimental came via texture: iridescent Lurex suits and perforated polo shirts with touches of leather.
DIOR HOMME
White blooms throughout the venue mirrored the embroidered flora winding up shirt sleeves, across the torsos of suits and down trouser legs. This sense of whimsy was balanced by the rigorous, strict suit shape that Kris Van Assche has made his trademark in his decade-long tenure, but there was playfulness in the punkesque trousers – some loose and flowing combat style; some narrow – riddled with zips.
BERLUTI
Creative director Alessandro Sartori is an exciting colourist, who focused on joyous, bold, Crayola-bright shades. Cobalt, shamrock, crimson, pomegranate, lavender, citron, apricot: a Technicolour cascade came down the catwalk in the form of relaxed tailoring, sporty bomber jackets and swamping, oversized cardigans with shawl collars.
LOUIS VUITTON
Kim Jones’s offering was full of culture clashes: embroidered storks and blossoms on varsity jackets mixed oriental with Americana; delicate embroidered stripes across gauzy loose silk tops and trousers added a sort of handcrafted charm to sportswear. Fluid shortsleeved shirts and shorts came covered in prints depicting monkeys and exotic fauna.