Paris Mens – Fall 2014

Once again, an affirmation of where the global capital of menswear really is. As creative and notable as each of the fashion week centers may be, in the French capital we have the most approachable(from the designer’s perspective) of them all. The diversity of aesthetics we see amongst the collections shown in Paris displays a great neutrality in the city as well as a wider array of talent, considering brands with a respected and extensive history also show here. From the best of the oldest to the best of the newest revealing their latest here, nobody would miss Paris Mens Collections.

 

Kriss Van Assche for Dior Homme expanded his horizon a bit this season by incorporating many fine details that Christian Dior himself focused on. Tie pins, classic pinstripes, a nylon utility jacket over a suit, a denim field jacket zipped up under a shearling interior leather jacket. The sometimes obvious or sometimes subtle combination of pinstripes and polka dots enlivened the true homme Dior.

 

The man with a casual sense of confidence and soaked in quality. By testing how else she can present beautiful fabrics in a new way, Véronique Nichanian expressed her talent best for Hermès here. The entire collection was nearly monochrome. There was suiting, knits, monochrome, an ounce of the classic Hermès silk, leather, croc, sherpa and parkas. A collection covering all these tones and textures and presenting the profound simplicity we see here takes a very rare skill.

 

Chitose Abe’s design DNA for Sacai, which was developed early on was on full display once again this time around for this Fall’s menswear. Unexpected mixed media, custom-developed fabrics and a story of deconstruction showed up again in a mind-blowing manner. This collections specific story was about turning things “inside out.” I was particularly impressed by the layering of coats that individually are normally worn in separate contexts. That velvet quilted head to toe look in powder blue was also just sensational.

 

Alexandre Mattiusi stuck to his guns and shed as little reality as possible for Ami‘s debut show, casting models that look more like the men we see on the street every day and decorating the catwalk as a Parisian sidewalk on a wintry, snowy night. Revisiting the classic man’s wardrobe for this Fall, we saw wool top coats, plaid button ups, chunky turtlenecks (which were the highlight for me), and leather bombers. What a breath of fresh air it was to see real clothes on the catwalk that still made such an impact.