If we say that in the past three years, in the midst of difficulties and challenges, the fashion week was held as scheduled, in a sense, it has created a "transcendent" utopia for the world, and through fashion, the "mood" of the fashion industry or society is boosted as much as possible.
So at this moment, whether it is Milan Men's Fashion Week that ended one step ahead of Paris, Paris Men's Fashion Week that ended during the Chinese Lunar New Year, and the upcoming London and New York... From the creative perspective of returning to reality and close to public memory, exploring the aesthetic and market significance of practical design in the real world may be more in line with the current emotional expectations, and it is also an important direction for the fashion industry to start again.
When people experience trauma, stagnation and a short "escape", they always have to face life, regroup at the same time, and return to the starting point and start again with the precipitated thinking before. This is also the spirit of Paris Men's Fashion Week this season.
Saint Laurent, led by creative director Anthony Vaccarello, returns to Paris, the brand's former home battleground, to embark on a new journey.
In 1962, Yves Saint Laurent founded this fashion house known for its elegance in France. Today, Anthony Vaccarello retains Saint Laurent's elegant and sensual soul, giving men a new concept of clothing with flowing lines, firm silhouettes, and clothing combinations with feminine proportions.
If Yves Saint Laurent brought the glamour of menswear to women in the last century, Vaccarello put femininity in menswear. Break through gender barriers and renew the visual aesthetics of the brand with your pure understanding of fashion.
Louis Vuitton, who has been working on the design team for more than a year, also welcomed the brand's first guest designer - Colm Dillane - at the Fall/Winter 2023 Paris Menswear Week.
Although Louis Vuitton has not given a clear plan for the appointment of creative director. But whether it's from Colm Dillane's own experience, the concept of integrating street culture and haute couture that he has always advocated, or the feedback from the industry from this show, this long-established fashion house that made its fortune with suitcases is ready to set sail again.
It is worth mentioning that two days after the Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear show, Colm Dillane's personal brand KidSuper also held a show in Paris. Unlike his designs at Louis Vuitton, the language of fashion he presents us this time is more personal. With exaggerated prints, panels, and bold and vibrant colours, Colm Dillane invited friends to perform as comedians in the brand's latest ready-to-wear.
If we talk about the wild concept of creation and tailoring, through fashion, the boundaries of modern creativity are constantly expanded, and the possibilities between the body and fashion. Then, as presented by Paris Men's Fashion Week this season - stronger practical design makes the current haute couture closer to the yearning and real emotional needs of all living beings.
As a result, we saw classic men's items such as suits, coats, and jackets on the runway of Dries Van Noten, presented with flexible silhouettes. A subtle blend of formal and casual flair, blurring the boundaries between Runway and everyday life, you can even imagine yourself walking down the street wearing them.
Eve Saint Laurent launched his first collection for Dior on January 30, 1958, bringing a new look to the fashion industry. Kim Jones draws inspiration from this time, giving menswear a combination of softness and classics.
From British tailoring and fabrics to haute couture silhouettes, each piece is fluid, contemporary, practical and relaxed, from flamboyant to restrained, subtly blending formal style and casual style, allowing the wearer to express his personality and style.
Of course, there is Hermes, which has always paid great attention to the wearer's feelings, and pursues classic and durable fabrics and designs. This season's Fall/Winter Men's Week runway continues to extend its utilitarian aesthetic.
Leather, the first choice for autumn and winter wardrobes, is also the core material of Hermès throughout the show. A variety of styles of pieces that wrap lightly around the model's bodies. Essentials such as knits, shirts, and suits create more classic images for the contemporary gentleman by layering and classic colors that complement each other.
On the other hand, colors and materials are also based on "low-key simplicity" at this season's Paris Fashion Week.
The aesthetic use of large color blocks weakens the fatigue caused by strong visual impact, and classic black, white and gray are still the protagonists, with mild and low-saturation colors, harmonious and poetic color matching, alluding to hope, but also soothing and releasing people's highly tense sensory nerves. Reflected in the fabric, it is often the most advanced technique in the "low-key". Whether it's high-quality silk and cashmere, or delicate and shiny leather and velvet, these soft-touch materials can also relax the wearer.
The AMI Fall/Winter 2023 menswear collection, which was staged by actress Charlotte Rampling, puts aesthetic expression on the overall creation of clean silhouettes and gentle milk soft colors. When all the models wear this season's ready-to-wear pieces for the final light, the visually simple and comfortable look and feel perception may be the classic definition that the designer brings us.
In the Lemaire Fall/Winter collection, a magical moment is created, where the body, contrasts, personalities, differences, genders and ages, everything flows freely. The loose silhouette gives the garment a sense of fluidity, and the fall/winter collection sits somewhere between slim and loose, structured and destructured.
To describe Fall/Winter 2023 Paris Men's Fashion Week in two words, "balance" couldn't be more appropriate. Fade away the pompousness and gimmicks, if this season's Paris Men's Fashion Week explores the beauty of the menswear world through a structural design full of practicality. Then there are also many brands in the avant-garde, creative and unimaginable visual language, presenting a more balanced and diversified "new minimalist aesthetics", giving fashion a more diversified expression.
What is the "New Minimalist Aesthetic"? As Japanese designer Junichi said in an interview after the Kolor show: "Minimalism is not simple and crude cutting, cutting, and cutting, it is complex and contoured." ”
Maison Margiela, three years after a departure from Paris, continues the grotesque aesthetic of punk romance in a new five-storey ultra-modern building on the Place États-Unis. "Pirate Master" uses his usual aesthetic style to build a surreal utopia for fashion viewers, telling us that even if it is black, it has a colorful meaning. Just like life, no matter how much suffering it brings us, you must also swing and dance to sing for it.
Drawing inspiration from the roaring 20s history, mixing and matching tulle, plaid elements, and oversized silhouettes, the young "Gallianos" deconstruct fashion in 50s tulle ball dresses, giant swinging opera coats and Western-style jackets with Mickey Mouse plackets and Hawaiian prints.
Loewe, who has always pursued the organic combination of fashion and art, also emphasized the reinvention of minimalist aesthetics on this season's runway. Less is more The idea of layering in the frame, the pure line of 3D sculpture, and the wings that draw inspiration from the artwork and combine with the back of the minimalist sweatshirt to become the demon "Lucifer", the minimalist aesthetic does not mean banality or monotony.
Homme Plisse Issey Miyake set the theme of the autumn/winter collection as "UponA Simplex", extracting geometry, triangles and other elements and integrating clothing with the use of pleats, skillfully presenting the combination of basic geometric simplicity and complex structure, not only providing more fun and comfort for everyday wear, but also making minimalism less simple.
For Marine Serre, this season's menswear week also seeks to reuse and stitch recycled fabrics to prompt people to think about alternative ways to face the world's excess resources today.
While the traditional long-established fashion houses have returned to their old professions, this season, Paris Men's Fashion Week also has many emerging designers showing their talents. Original Chinese designer Feng Chen Wang returns to Paris with a new menswear collection. Taking "encounter and sewing" as the starting point, it focuses on diverse sections such as men, women, Orient, and West, and clearly presents an open discussion of gender and the combination of traditional Chinese technology and modern Western styles.
Today's Fashion Week runway and off-the-ground are gradually returning to their former days. With the full return of physical shows and the new digital method of online live broadcasting, the fashion industry is approaching the next spring.
There may still be many uncertainties, but the energy transmitted by the fashion capital of Paris allows us to see the future, whether it is the multi-faceted nature of fashion art or the resilience of the fashion industry, it can still bring people new knowledge, new ideas and new hopes. WWD
Written by Mango
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Image source: Brand official and online