Hermés Archives - CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

We arrive in the final destination on our round up of the male Fashion weeks for Autumn/Winter 2015. Bonjour Paris and we start the proceedings off with a brand not short on that certain Je ne said quoi, yes Louis Vuitton and what a way to start. Kim Jones just seems to be going from strength to strength during his tenure with the Luxury Power house. He drew his inspiration this season, on a personal hero, in the shape of British Designer Christopher Nemeth who was relatively unknown outside of Japan. He interpreted four of Nemeth’s signature prints and at the same time managed to work them expertly into the Vuitton aesthetic, that only he could have achieved to such a high level. Once again leaving everyone, a baited for next season to see what magic he may conjure.

Next up, onto a designer who left me agog with the beauty of his collection, Junya Watanabe, who based the look of his Autumn/Winter 2015 collection on the sub culture of the ‘sappers’ the nattily dressed gentlemen from the Congo. Think, those immaculately dressed dandies of 1930’s Harlem in their Sunday Best fit for Church and an audience with God himself. Nonetheless, this was no retro obsessed collection, this was modernity personified.

Then to Riccardo Tisci’s Givenchy, we saw a departure from the sweatshirts and Tees which have made the Fashion brand such a favourite of the likes of Professor Green through to Kanye West in recent years and a move towards the formal roots of the Parisian house. However, this was a dark and eerie at time unnerving presentation by Tisci and the Devil was literally in the detail.

Madison Kitsune

Paul & Joe

Ami may not have the heritage of some of the other players on the Paris schedule but it nonetheless delivers and leaves you wanting to run backstage and put an order in with them there and then, not having to wait 6 or so months before it hits the stores and websites. It offers impeccably desirable clothes that you just want. Another French brand able to entice us with such wearable and interesting ranges is Carven offering up a more boxy and sculpted silhouette this season. Relative new comers are Maison Kitsune the duo of Masaya Kuroki and Gildas Loaec, think of this like a pseudoFrench Alban, where they leave you wanting literally every piece from the collection from suiting to Tote bag. The thing all these brands have in common is their comforting lack of avant garde, there is no danger you may need the lookbook just to know have to wear an outfit from these brands but you can rest assure you still know, you look the bis when wearing their wares. This is the same with Paul & Joe, this is not a tricksy brand, where from season to season you’re not quite sure what you might see or get from them. This is a true bastion of wearable apparel.

Kris Van Assche for Dior Homme, seemed to run his show in reverse this season opting to start the presentation with formal attire in tuxedos in various forms then moving between smart and smart casual throughout. Mixing that juxtaposition of high formal then throwing in denim, a baseball cap, trainers or maybe even all three, just because he can.

Next we have the Luxury house of Luxury Houses, Hermes offering a Masterclass in the modern male’s wardrobe and what it SHOULD contain for every possible eventuality, whether that be a business meeting or what to wear for that all important down time, Veronique Nichanian had it covered to a tee, T-shirt that is.

Like Hermes, Alber Elbaz over at Lanvin did his take on what a the contemporary man needs for his functional wardrobe. He divided it into uniform sections which included, pinstripes, tweeds in grey, country plaids, army coats and military jackets.

Penultimately, we have Sir Paul Smith flying the flag for British Sartorialism on the continent. Like so many brands this season he too has adopted the maxim of Orange is the new Black or maybe he’s been watching too much Netflix, either way we have seen everyone from Christopher Raeburn to Missoni, Moschino and Vivienne Westwood all take on the sunshine hue. Smith looked back to move forward this season and saught his design team to plunder his archive of decades of hoarding.

Finally we have Umit Benan who like Pablo Copolla for Bally seems to have been inspired by the films of Wes Anderson. Rather than the The Royal Tenenbaums, Benan appears to have emmerised himself in ‘The Life aquatic’ as whether is was fishing rods or bucket hats his models possessed some element of fishing paraphernalia. But at no time did Umit collection veer to the realms of silliness or gimmick.

Carven

And so onto Paris and into the final leg of the Mens Fashion week circuit for this season, well next season, never mind. Ahhh Paris in the Summer, the Champs Elysee, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, THE PACKED UNDERGROUND SYSTEM ! The first day of the Paris shows and its off to Carven, who were inspired by the great artists, not one in particular just a mix, or collage of them. We saw bright sherbet colours and artist smock style shirts and all rather wearable.

Valentino

Onto an Italian Powerhouse, who has taken a shine to showing in Paris is Valentino, and rather then me tell you I’ll leave you in the rather stylish hands of Monsieur James Sleaford, a Englishman in Paris who just happens to be the Fashion Editor of GQ France, “One of my favourite shows was that of Valentino. It was a collection both rich in fabrics, colours, styles but equally very wearable! Whilst, many designers went for the floral print at a strong statment piece Valentino subtly used it in a comoflauged trouser print to add both colour and texture to an outfit but keeping it commercial at the same time! Whilst summer leathers were everywhere for the Spring Summer collections – the Valentino vests were of the highest quality – styled in a clean sportswear fashion with both T-shirts and tailored trousers! This was sports chic at its best with a twist of Military flair!”

Please don’t think lazy of me but I sort the opinion of another fashion leader this time in the shape of Adrian Clark, Style Director of Shortlist. “Dries Van Noten knocked it out of the park for this season. The Belgian designer’s use of print is unsurpassable and the combinations of his menacingly dark florals on liquid silk and satin fabrics worn with romantic military tailoring will set a precedent for Spring 2014.”

Kenzo

For both Kris Van Assche and Kenzo it was about forgetting Sports Casual for Spring 2014 and think Sports Formal. Van Assche managed to blend elements from suiting with casual outdoors attire plus added splashes of BRIGHTS for maximum effect. Whereas Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, for Kenzo, returned to their California roots, replacing the tiger stripes of their phenomenally successful sweatshirts with the waves and surf of Cal-I-for-ni-a and offered a BLUE-tiful collection.

Over at Hermés, silver was the colour du jour as Véronique Nichanian celebrated 25 years of producing exquisite, not often I get to use that word, collections for the French Luxury house. As always she didn’t disappoint offering everything the Hermés man could possibly want from a Summer wardrobe.

Ami

To finish the day it was off to the Ami show, increasingly becoming a fave of Clothes-Make-the-Man, where Alexandre Mattiussi, showed us his sense of humour, sometimes in all too short supply in Fashion Land, he tried to convince us that budget airlines and the stresses of contemporary airline travel have and could not take the glamour and gloss off international jet set travel, obviously he needs to experience the delights of Ryanair and Easyjet a little more.

Louis Vuitton

And to, what has to be, arguably, the most sort after ticket on the Paris schedule, Louis Vuitton. So, of course I wanted to gauge the opinion of the most sort after lady of Menswear Press, the alluring Catherine Hayward, Fashion Director of British Esquire. “When you’re the style director of Louis Vuitton, talented teams and big budgets mean it’s easier to be noticed, receive accolades and collect awards for your efforts. But for his Spring 2014 menswear collection, Brit designer Kim Jones proved his worth with probably his most successful collection yet for the house of Vuitton. Managing the notoriously uneasy balance between commerciality and artistically viable pieces of ‘fashion’, Jones’ road trip across the USA produced a mix of uber luxurious lambskin holdalls and back packs, bright orange crocodile skin bomber jackets and python sweatshirts and sneakers with a more down-at heel vibe across the casualwear; cotton drill varsity jackets and parkas decorated with carpet woven travelling badges plus oversize shirts and t’s which channelled classic bandana prints. With David Beckham sitting front row, Jones sent a red–carpet friendly finale of slick grey, black and monogrammed evening wear along the runway with quirky clothes peg detailing on lapels for added chutzpah.”

Paul Smith

Finally, from a Brit at a French house to a Brit at what has to be THE most British of houses, Sir Paul Smith, although he showcased his new Best of British collection during London Collections:Men, Paul still, for the moment, shows his signature line in Paris. When I caught up with Paul recently, sorry I don’t mean that to sound as wanky as it does, he explained how he thought his recent collections had become very dark and how when he had visited his archive he saw all this colour that he had become synonymous for. Well he wasn’t bluming well joking, there was Red and orange and pink and, I think you get the picture, essentially the catwalk and venue was awash with colour.

Paris Menswear Shows Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2015

Paris Menswear Show review SS14

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