BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has called his creative perspective "oriental futurism" but he has also shown a penchant for mining silhouettes of times and centuries past. He has shown collections of garments that look as if they are based on Medieval and ancient Japanese armor. He blends east and west quite well. But for this Spring Summer '27 show at Paris Fashion Week, the armor has been softened, shaped into layers of ease with sheer materials. Quite the opposite of armor. But somehow he manages to retain an echo of the original purpose...

When the warrior takes off his battle gear, there is repose beneath. I love the way these garments drape, puddle, flow. The skirts in Looks 12 and 20 that zip open are magnificent. I don't think I have seen a loose trouser better cut than the ones in Looks 10, 15, and 16. Yet Songzio's classic Roman gladiator sandals remain (click a pic to ogle). And the browns, mustards, and greens are a beautiful counterpoint to his often black and white palette. Stunning.

https://en.songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has called his creative perspective "oriental futurism" but he has also shown a penchant for mining silhouettes of times and centuries past. For his FW '26-'27 collection shown at Paris Fashion Week, the specter lurking around this very dark collection was what feels like the Middle Ages. Look at the high collars, the "gugel"-like cowls (some nearly enveloping the wearer), big gauntlets, and various wraps and robes. Most fascinating: the horsehair details peeking out here and there. And for added context, the Songzio site shows a photo of the presentation with Romanesque arches!

https://en.songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has been amassing quite a catalogue of amazing pieces in an oeuvre he himself refers to as "oriental futurism." In the past, his collections have been inspired by paintings but this time it was clear that the inspiration for this SS '26 collection at Paris Fashion Week was sculpture. It is fascinating how designers can interpret an idea, another form, and incorporate it into their own vernacular. So yes, this is wearable sculpture...taking a sculpture and interpreting it for a garment. But beyond that, I feel the pieces are volumes that humans happen to be inhabiting....something beyond just the idea of wearable sculpture.

https://songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

What a wild, wonderful, dark collection--dark literally and figuratively--Songzio (the South Korean brand started by Jay Song) showed at Paris Fashion Week. The Fall-Winter '25-'26 collection took the 17th century Spanish painter Diego Velazquez as inspiration. A model bore a resemblance to Velazquez thanks to a canny hairstyle, and graffitied versions of one of his most famous paintings "Portrait of Pope Innocent X" showed up on shirts. And the silhouettes and cuts were general interpretations of 17th century garments...

Self Portrait of artist Diego Velazquez

"Portrait of Pop Innocent X" by Diego Velazquez

...but honestly, the Elizabethan ruff collar interpretation reads like the collar of a classic Count Dracula costume. The jodhpurs (and reverse jodhpurs with the balloon at the bottom), the sort of slouchy Tyrolean/Romanian hat, and the dark color palette with touches of hunter green and other hues lifted from paintings by Velazquez all make me think of vampires and vampire hunters.

https://songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Men's Fashion Month in Europe draws to a close with the end of Paris Fashion Week. Here are some interesting details that hit me right from the Spring Summer '25 shows:

J.W. Anderson showed some fascinating pants at Loewe: voluminous and gathered trousers, harem pants out of cable knit, or gathered with an attached semi-skirt (reminiscent of the look of tying a shirt around one's waist and letting it trail behind), or slim with a double wrap belt which loops at the shirt as well as at the waist.

Jeanne Friot continues her fun graphic of belts and buckles printed on tops and sheaths. She also continues her enthusiasm for genderless garments!

Jonny Johansson's label Acne Studios continues their own similar idea with a lookbook featuring trompe l’oeil printed jeans...stacks of belts, frayed fronts, and long chains hanging from belt loops are not really there...they just look like it!

But then in the same collection, Acne showed some sharp tailored looks with some amazing tall boots with very wide shafts. I am in love.

Speaking of shoes, this is a nice segue to Feng Chen Wang's sci-fi inspired suction cupped soles, topping last season's shoes that had giant rubber covers that looked like the facehugger from the ALIEN films (seen here)...

Walter Van Beirendonck's collection was inspired by circus clowns and not in a good way... clowns are running the world, says he...and the Lego shoes were worth the price of admission.

And even more shoes from LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi. His collaboration with Puma resulted in a rubber molded slip-on featuring soles of gripping teeth.

Songzio showed what appear to be wrestling boots but transformed into summer sandals. They are fantastic. In black, white, grey, or blue and pink!

https://www.loewe.com/
https://www.jeannefriot.com/
https://www.acnestudios.com/
https://fengchenwang.com/
https://www.louisgabrielnouchi.com/

https://songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has been designing clothing for three decades now, but this is the first time I have posted a collection (although the brand did not start showing in Paris until 2006). The show notes for this FW '23-'24 collection at Paris Fashion Week are clear enough:

"Songzio’s fall 2023 collection, titled 'Reflexion,' captures the coexisting dualities in the human soul. Sometimes visible, yet sometimes invisible, this collection brings out the perplex senses and emotions that coexist within us. This collection is a self-reflection of who we are and who we appear to be."

But the form this inspiration took directs me to the ideas of armour and protection. Is Songzio speaking to war-like tendencies in humans? I see stylized references to Roman gladiator skirts and breastplates as well as the type of armour and clothing worn underneath by Shogun warriors. The overlapping plates in leather and even denim give an impenetrable sense. Is this collection the manifestation of the idea that we all have something soft inside of us to protect? Whatever it is, the cuts are amazing and the tailoring that achieves this effect is expert.

https://www.songzio.com/