SAINT LAURENT, LOUIS VUITTON, DIOR HOMME, DRIES VAN NOTEN and CELINE

From Ocean Vibes at Louis Vuitton to Tropical Birdsong at Dries Van Noten, Mother Earth was Duly Worshipped. Earthy Tones and Desert Shades Shimmered while Fauna & Flora Dominated as Motifs.

At Louis Vuitton

Image Credit Paris Fashion Week

THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Heatwave or not. The epicentre of fashion (and of these crazy temperatures), Paris, pulled off a phenomenal set of shows despite the unimaginable heat. Paramedics were on stand-by amid scenes of front-row fashionistas feverishly fanning themselves with anything and everything, from fans to brochures and newspapers. A shout out to the unlucky souls who had to don coats on the runway!

Designers cleverly improvised: Rick Owens incorporated air conditioning into his show and Saint Laurent went the full whack and installed… a beach!

Big brands as well as fresh talent were amongst the 33 brands who showed on the runway . A whopping 37 presentations also got underway – impressive, considering trying times in the industry. Big guns Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton, Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent and Jonathan Anderson for Dior Homme delivered jaw-dropping performances, as did Sarah Burton for Givenchy and Julian Klausner for Dries Van Noten. Comme des Garcon, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens and Celine wowed as ever (and pssssst… Michael Rider may just have stolen the entire show with a maverick offering for Celine.)

As for Trends… following on from Milan Menswear, suits – albeit a new look at the old favourite (blazers pared with shorts were a thing) – formed the backbone of many collections. Trench coats, most notably at Saint Laurent (shimmering gold metallic), Dior Homme, Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten, got a new lease of life. There was a push and pull between close-cut shapes and voluminous ones – wide, pocketed cargo pants as well as close-fitting micro shorts – featured in equal quantities. Transparent and lightweight fabrics were seen in many places – and made treble impact in the heat.

Nature-inspired themes (Louis Vuitton’s beach scene and Dries Van Noten’s Birdsong backdrop spring to mind) dominated, as did colours that mimicked nature. We spotted umpteen animal printed clothes, shoes and accessories. Colours also echoed the Mother Earth theme, with natural shades like sand, beige, ecru and mushroom looking very organic and understatedly sophisticated. Pops of subtle shades of pastel, amber, lavender, apricot and salmon were added to rshowcase the neutrals.

LOUIS VUITTON

Watch Louis Vuitton’s Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks8V_lVKhtQ

Perhaps the most talked-about show of the week was Pharrell Williams’ over-the-top beach with real white sand, boardwalk and gigantic mock-waves for Louis Vuitton. All this extravagance to the beat of potentially the most catching rap slang soundtrack of the season, or the decade, really. All this on the hottest recorded day in France’s history!

Here Williams floated his thoughts to what the fashionable hippie surfer – and their alter ego, the dandy – wears. In both cases he explores the universal themes of ‘travel’ and ‘performance’ with his vocabulary of palm-print Hawaiian shirts, weathered T-shirts, cut-off denim shorts, knitted hoodies and bomber jackets juxtaposed with the dandy’s urban attire of suits, logo-ed LV two-piece suits, collared shirts and trench coats.

And of course there was the inevitable – and enviable – array of LV bags and luggage, the latter portered across the sand on little buggies like crates full of gold.

Unsurprisingly ocean blue was the favourite shade of the collection, ranging from dusty and sun-bleached blue denim to sky blue, teal and sea-green.

The surfboards deserve a mention. There were many renditions to ogle, but our favourite has to be a sand-coloured, nude board. Oh, and most unforgettable was the LV logo-ed wetsuit. Beach-blonde, tousled-hair surfer hippies evidently earn much more these days than they did back in the day!

At Louis Vuitton

At Louis Vuitton

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SAINT LAURENT

Watch Saint Lauren’s Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arIRXcM_BxA

If ever there was a flashbulb memory moment from this season’s shows, it has to be Anthony Vaccarello’s fluid, as if dipped in gold, trench coat for Saint Laurent.

The archetypal Saint Laurent silhouette seemed even more exaggerated than in past renditions – the shoulders extended, the waist narrower: an hourglass of epic proportions.

But there were so many other treasures also in this collection characterized by an uncanny lightness in the tailoring, silhouette and shades. Flowy elongated jackets were nonchalantly fastened with one gem of a button, a la Tina Chow. A nipped-in-the-waist camel trench coat barely covered a pair of naked legs in matching camel micro shorts and a vest. A body-hugging shrunken black waistcoat was accessorized with a black noose-like black scarf, oozing sensuality.

But it has to be the parachute silk windbreakers in their shades of citrus that were the stop-in-your-tracks pieces, looking just so desirable and slightly 1980s retro. And an honourable mention goes to the ridiculously pointy winklepickers!

Indeed there were touches of opulence in the odd jewel-like jacket button, in the sumptuousness of a swingy, languid jacket, in the molten metallic gold of a perfectly tailored trench coat and in the ultra-fine rib of a silk knot.

Opulent or not, this is an ultra-wearable collection of pieces: an easy, sexy and flattering capsule collection for the discerning gentleman.

At Saint Laurent

At Saint Laurent

At Saint Laurent

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DRIES VAN NOTEN

Watch Dries Van Noten’s Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orsJaH7K8lo

And now for a totally different take on masculinity, and the clothes we associate with maleness.

“The idea of sensuality guided many of our choices, colours and fabrications, rendering wardrobe staples as clothing that feels soft and intimate. Like a dream that vanishes upon waking up, I hope everything feels loose, delicate, easy to remove, ready to fly away. A tribute to simple beauty of a rest in nature.” – Julian Klausner.

Amid stifling heat guests at the Dries Van Noten show at the Tennis Club de Paris were offered ice lollies while awaiting what turned out to be a set of ethereal , doe-eyed models .

The refreshing coolness of the ice lollies amid the scorching heat were sort-of a metaphor for the collection: transparent layers of easy-to-peel-off pieces oozed lightness, airiness and fluidity. Colours – apricot, salmon, lavender – were dreamy and seductive, and added to the sense of weightlessness and aerial quality of the clothes. Some resembled watercolour paintings, others could’ve been drawn with Indian ink in navy and black.

There were parkas and trench coats in parachute silk, safari shirts, tie-dyed cargo pants and beach shirts. Tiny little shorts may have been a thread that ran right through the collection – and very befitting in the heat.

For a brand known for its quirky colour combinations and ingenious patterning, Klausner didn’t budge from the ethos of the brand or his mentor Dries Van Noten: colour blocking, pattering and an unbeatable sense of combining all of the latter, were evident in every ensemble. If one had to single out one dominating shade, it would be sunset orange, which accentuated a V-neck jumper, the hem of a coat and a pair of shorts.

In fact, the whole show was reminiscent of a classic ballet like Ophelia. The models reminded one of nymphs in the woods, dream-like, sensual and magical. No denying this collection is escapism at its very best, and these are indeed clothes that are “easy to remove” and that lets one “fly away”, as per Klausner’s press notes.

At Dries Van Noten

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At Dries Van Noten

DIOR HOMME

Watch Dior Homme’s Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orsJaH7K8lo

Jump aboard the time machine!

Creative director Jonathan Anderson took his inspiration for Dior Homme’s SS 2027 from his music producer Fred Again and the creative process that allows a record-producer to sample, remix and reinvent already existing tunes.

Likewise, Anderson looked back and forth over the decades and centuries, took inspiration from iconic pieces of costume and accessories – and remixed/reinvented them for 2027.

Transparent tuxedos being a good example: the tuxedo is an already classic garment, but given the Dior treatment it became airy and ultra-wearable (even in the heat!) and refreshingly covetable. The trusted homely cardigan became a sculptural piece of stringy, ripped knitwear – sexy and breezy, devoid of all connotations of being ‘old-fashioned’.

Polo shirts and blazers in traditional plaids and tartan were most unconventionally married to bright pink jeans. The traditional collared formal shirt came with a collar that was nothing like the stiff, starched collar one would expect, its sleeves and cuffs overly long and peeking out from under jackets and cardigans. Some jackets were sported without a shirt, their hems fraying and swaying.

All refreshingly unorthodox, eccentric even, and avant-garde. And alas (sigh), so-must-haveable!

At Dior Homme

At Dior Homme

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CELINE

Watch Celine’s Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L43CjZKAyps

It’s quite possible that Michael Rider’s gutsy collection for Celine on the very last day of fashion week completely hijacked the show. It was novel, diverse, exciting – and most of all pretty unpredictable on a macro and micro level, in the very best of ways.

To say it was an eclectic mix of ensembles is an understatement. The inspiration seems to have come from a multitude of fashion eras and movements over the decades, even the future!

There were elements of Buffalo (iconic 80s youth culture fashion movement) in the way pieces were put together and ensembles styled… there was definitely some Preppy elements too, a bit of Mod, a bit of Rocker, some New-Age and Space-Age, a tad of Gothic, Dandy, Hippy and Emo. And more.

But it wasn’t just the styling, the devil was in the detail, in the way every piece was just not quite what you’d expect: a tie would have a square end, a cloak-coat would be long enough to cover the hands (but surprise-surprise, a hand would emerge sporting a blood-red glove) and an off-one-shoulder V-neck jumper would be artfully pleated into a pair of cow-print jeans (but wait, why are they brightest custard yellow?).

The flares, stove-pipes, straight-cut and other trousers would be just a little shorter than you’d imagine they should be. Shrunken jackets, flip-flops worn with suits… and so on and so forth, the amusing and rather puzzling little quirks and surprises were hidden in plain sight in every ensemble.

It suffices to say, the tailoring was impeccable, the colours inspired, the silhouettes refreshingly different and the overall feel was that of well-considered luxe. Even though it was somewhat random, some may even say ‘odd’.

But how befitting and brave to end a week of classic, often pared-down looks with a sensationally maverick collection. May we go forth in the glow of Celine’s floaty coats, harem pants and cummerbunds – and be eternally inspired..

At Celine

At Celine

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At Celine

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