The recently concluded spring-summer edition of Paris Fashion Week saw designers looking at various cultures through a new creative lens.
Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton, for instance, had the Indian dandy on his moodboard which informed the tailoring. The collection was experimental, soft and free-flowing. For the first time, the motif created by Louis Vuitton for the 2007 film, The Darjeeling Limited, was inculcated as part of a collection. Originally conceived exclusively for the film and emblazoned on 11 pieces of luggage featured in the story, set in India, the pattern included cheetahs, elephants, gazelles, giraffes, rhinoceros, zebras and palm trees on a semi-tan leather base. It also appeared in embroideries on striped shirts and shorts, denim sets, elegant check tailoring and knitwear, as fil-coupé in tailoring and shirting, and as hand-embroidery on a cashmere coat and an over-shirt.
Another high point this season was Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior. The artistic director offered a playful reinterpretation of house heritage code. From capes to boxer shorts, from knitwear to court jackets, every look cross-pollinated textures, motifs and colours. It was part preppy and part punk.
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At the Saint Laurent show, on the other hand, artistic director Anthony Vaccarello explored the idea of escapism while paying a tribute to a lost generation of queer artists, including Larry Stanton, Patrick Angus and Darrel Ellis.
Here are some key menswear trends that emerged at the Paris Fashion Week:
It’s all in the details
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The Hermès collection celebrated easy, relaxed and contemporary living tinged with a rakish nonchalance. The first look, for example, featured a putty-hued leather T-shirt with a line of an open-weave technique running from outside sleeve to shoulder. One of the key looks was a pair of trousers crafted from a distinctive lattice-work.
Also worth mentioning are Kenzo’s jackets and blazers which came accented with military frogging. The belt buckles spelled “KENZO”, “MEOW” and “WOOF”, reminiscent of the 90s.
Archival redux
At his debut Dior Men show, Anderson offered a manic mashup of high and low, superimposing historical eras and style sensibilities. Digging deep into the house’s storied archives, he reimagined the folds of the 1948 Delft dress as a pair of denim cargo shorts. The 1952 Cigale coat was recreated in of-the-moment moiré. There were nods to Caprice, the checked wool coat from Spring 1948, in a pair of voluminous trousers.
Louche tailoring
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At Amiri, loungewear was mixed with refined tailoring. Monogrammed robes, slippers and tassel-adorned details nodded to grand hotel traditions. The brand was inspired by artist Wes Lang, whose time in Room 34 of the Chateau Marmont initiated a visual dialogue between interior and exterior, stillness and movement. Lang’s bird motifs, originally inked on hotel stationery, were employed as embroidery.
At Louis Vuitton, silks, leathers and fine wools appeared sun-faded in texture while cashmere mixed with silk, llama or vicuña was treated to resemble raw textures. Dries Van Noten’s showcase by Julian Klausner, too, embraced soft tailoring inhabited in silk sarongs, striped shirts, and slouchy tailored trousers.
The accessories section
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The Dior Book Tote was reimagined with book covers, including Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Another bag, a crossbody, paid an homage to another iconic literary work, Dracula by Bram Stoker.
The Lady Dior meanwhile was re-contextualised by artist Sheila Hicks and cloaked in a nest of pure linen ponytails.
LV Speedy P9 bags were amplified with painted stripes evoking those of archival trunks, with Monogram embroidery in vibrant blue, ochre and purple, and with monogram gold-thread embroidery on leather. The Speedy P9 also appeared in faded colours on ostrich, in green Sahara-finish crocodile, in scarf prints with three-dimensional monogram elements, and in a tree-of-life carpet weave with animal embroideries.
What’s more, Hermès designed totes printed with gamboling monkeys. The pièce de résistance, though, was a triple-decker tan Birkin bag avatar.
Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer and content creator.
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