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--Acne

Acne's director Jonny Johansson has always loved denim and the rebellious, grunge-y aspect it can present. So for his FW '24-'25 collection, presented via a lookbook instead of a runway show at Paris Fashion Week, denim shows up a little bit but mostly we see a sort of retro-contemporary eclectic look that incorporates a hyper-version of a shearling-lined Ugg boot. Pants that look ripped, belted and hung with chains are actually a trompe l’oeil effect, simply printed onto cotton. In fact, all of the embellishments on bottoms feature that treatment. And it is all photographed on shape-shifting, genre-defying musician and artist Yves Tumor (previously here) whose own rock-punk-Goth-funk-New Wave-Glam aesthetic dovetails perfectly with this collection.

https://www.acnestudios.com/
https://yvestumor.info/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Here are some details I did not want to miss mentioning from the Spring Summer 2020 shows at Paris Fashion Week:

Off-White
Blankets with designs by old-school graffiti artist Futura (who worked alongside the likes of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York back in the day). I love blankets as an alternative to scarves.

Lemaire
Wide-cut, high-waisted trousers with a 40s silhouette. Beautiful.

Lanvin
Adorable silk shirt and jacket with Babar imagery in this lovely seaside collection shown at an indoor pool.

JW Anderson
Fascinating flip-flop sandal with straps but also a decorative gold leash that reminds me of the type surfers wear to tether their board to their ankles...just without the crystal drops.
And a cute, home-y, felted clog in yummy colors.

ACNE Studios
What at first appears to be a chunky running or hiking shoe with a big lug sole turns out to be a sort of double wrap, peep-toe sandal! It looks great in distressed chartreuse leather worn with funky, slouched socks.

Christian Dada
Beautiful black or white chunky beaded necklaces from a collection based on Japanese pilgrimages to Buddhist temples and shrines.

https://www.off---white.com
https://www.lemaire.fr/
https://www.lanvin.com
https://www.jwanderson.com
https://www.acnestudios.com
http://www.christiandada.jp/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week, June 2013

As usual, a wrap-up of miscellaneous details and elements from the Spring-Summer '14 collections seen at Paris Fashion Week, June 2013.

Raf Simon's cute, colorful moon boots:

Goths... and technicolor Goths at Comme des Garçons:

Great chukka boots with color bands at Sacai:

I love these SUPER wide cut trousers at Acne...

...and these super high cut trousers from Damir Doma:

And finally, instead of pictures, I want to share the Style.com feature about Umit Benen's collection which was an homage to his homeland and an effort to keep a certain culture from disappearing.

http://www.rafsimons.com/
http://www.comme-des-garcons.com/
http://www.acnestudios.com/
http://www.damirdoma.com/en
http://www.umitbenan.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Paris Fashion Week Misc.

And finally, a few more little comments or things to note about some miscellaneous SS '13 collections...

As we have seen not only here in Paris, but also in Milan the week before, metallic is the thing right now. Acne showed metallic lace ups...

... while Viktor & Rolf showed a fun orange metallic sneaker (along with suits and pieces embellished with mirror!)...

...and Maison Martin Margiela featured a silver shoe that looked like an espadrille, along with some amazing metallic trousers (made of treated cotton). Of particular note: an all black cast of models walked the space at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild while a live band played some funky rock!

Venerable British clothiers (and dressmaker to H.R.H. from 1955 to 2002) Hardy Amies showed some very special eveningwear. While not technically metallic, the shiny blacks, silvers, and blues sure read as metallic. Maybe it has to do with the op-art print on that jacket, but the cut of these suits feel a little mid-century...

Issey Miyake, taking an active role in his menswear collections after being content to be in the background for eighteen years, used an ancient Japanese paper called washi to create the pieces for his '13 SS collection. Washi is traditionally made of fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub, or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, or wheat. The Miyake studio treated the washi to be water-repellent, and twisted it into large fibers and yarn which were then woven or knitted. It seems like a wonderfully sustainable product, especially if made from bamboo!

Raf Simons is the new head of Dior (so long, Galliano!) but retains his own line. He showed a selection of great, louche shorts suits with a front (or side) slit, looking like the little slit Westwood put in some trousers for the Spring Summer '13 season.

And lastly, on a personal note, I had to show Paul Smith's SS '13 collection because nearly every model was wearing a fantastic pair of the kind of elegant, slim, t-strap sandals I have been looking for this summer! It looks like they come in red, black, oxblood, and spice. I'll take one in each color, thanks.

http://shop.acnestudios.com/
http://www.viktor-rolf.com/
http://www.maisonmartinmargiela.com/
http://www.hardyamies.com/
http://www.isseymiyake.com/
http://www.rafsimons.com/
http://www.paulsmith.co.uk/shop/home/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week F/W '12-'13

Here's a little round-up of some miscellaneous looks and silhouettes from Paris Fashion week that I found interesting...

Acne showed some interesting shapes and proportions along with the unique idea of having a quilted outerpiece worn under a jacket! It seems that lots of designers were doing short jackets in this season of the suit...


One can always depend on Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons to present something totally insane and totally unwearable. This '12-'13 F-W collection featured an elusive cross-dressing, Goth, schoolgirl theme with a bit of French court millinery thrown in to keep us off balance (as if we needed to be any more off balance with this collection). The result is peculiar and compelling. The brocade printed over a classic tartan has an almost lace effect.


Dries van Noten, one of the original Antwerp Six, continues to create interesting collections. This one, inspired by a highly unlikely pairing of Frank Zappa and Oscar Wilde (?) featured graphic quotes from Wilde with psychedelic prints. Watch the video from Style.com to see the creation of the "art wall" behind the models.

Iceberg's '12-'13 FW collection came to us through Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as evidenced by the hats and suspenders on the models, not to mention that minimalist outline of Chaplin in gold on the tee shirt below. The gears on the back wall of the runway reference the Chaplin film "Modern Times." This reminds me very much of the Chaplin collection John Galliano did for SS '12, seen here.


Issey Miyake's '12-'13 FW collection was mildly interesting, but of note was a faded pattern on suits and pointy, geometric jackets.


Junya Watanabe is another designer who loves a theme and this collection seemed to be an homage to lumberjacks in Carhartt's. I like the tailored approach to work wear as well as the leather patchwork suits. I seem to be smitten with the model in orange suspenders. Anyone know who this is?

Maison Martin Margiela took the re-use/recycle ethos to heart and created coats from Monoprix bags as well as black trash bags!


Jean Paul Gaultier showed a '12-'13 FW collection that featured suits and pieces in a brick pattern as well as silhouettes that evoked the early years of the twentieth century. There is something a little "Boardwalk Empire" about it all... but of course we would not expect to see a gangster in a skirt. Only for JPG.


Now here we go again with the Hundredth Monkey/ zeitgeist idea... not only did Gaultier use a brick print, but so did Moschino! Coincidence? Something in the air?


And finally, Walter Van Bierendonck, who is wildly entertaining, created a collection that kind of terrifies me. Using the idea of African masks mixed with leather masks from bondage/S&M culture, he presented a candy-colored world of fetish, playing off the usage of the word as both an African statue containing magic and a sexual fixation. Models wore rubber waders, rubber masks, and rubber padlocks as accessories on necklaces and canes which ended up looking like tribal or voudoun staffs of power... fascinating and scary!

And finally, I need to share a really wild runway show even though the clothing was not remarkable. Umit Benan, whose designs I do appreciate, came up with an extreme military theme this season, with pieces that look like he raided Fidel Castro's closet. If I want that, I will go to the local Army-Navy Surplus store. But the show! WOW! Naked soldiers showering, men getting tattooed live on stage, Army men hanging out... what a theatrical tableau! Yowsa!

http://shop.acnestudios.com/
http://www.comme-des-garcons.com/
http://www.driesvannoten.be/
http://www.iceberg.com/
http://www.isseymiyake.com/
http://www.maisonmartinmargiela.com/
http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com
http://www.moschino.it/
http://www.waltervanbeirendonck.com/
http://www.umitbenan.com/