Streetfashion Menswear Paris FW2017, Day 01

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Vetements-denim? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Menswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2017.

Valentino Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Menswear FW2017

It was the first solo men’s Valentino show for Pierpaolo Piccioli after the split from longtime design partner Maria Grazia Chiuri, now creative director of women’s collections at Christian Dior. Piccioli got inspired by Jamie Reid, the English artist best known for his Sex Pistols album cover art and used two short poems of him for the brand. “Beauty is a birthright, reclaim your heritage,” read one. “It seemed to be the end until the next beginning,” said the second.
Those phrases, in Reid’s signature ransom-note style, appeared on everything from an ankle-length gray double cashmere coat to a pink intarsia sweater.

Piccioli did not go down the punk route of safety pins and mohair sweaters. He gave the lineup a collegiate feel by pairing the outfits with sweaters worn over shirts with slim black bow ties. Shrunken suit jackets looked like they had been outgrown, while off-kilter shades like pastel green and pink gave duffel coats and workwear jackets a confident flair.

Haider Ackermann Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Menswear FW2017

“I’m always attracted to the elegant man, but I’m always kind of a mess,” said Haider Ackermann backstage ato WWD after his his wild patchwork of a show. The collection had a punk feel, with magnified houndstooth fabrics patchworked with black leather for vests and jackets; a long, dark red military style coat, and plaid, checked or striped trousers, some with tartan tops knotted around the waist. Velvet played a starring role, patched together with leather or wool for a jacket or adorned with devoré fabric with ragged edges or more houndstooth checks.
There were shiny, billowing anoraks, hoodies, houndstooth topcoats and suede bombers that came with turtlenecks, tank tops and vests.

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Menswear FW2017

Demna Gvasalia, the designer of Balenciaga, got inspired by the corporate style. His fall-collection was all about the 9-to-5, from the mail room straight up to the c-suite.
Gvasalia worked around formalwear and put tailoring on a pedestal, took away the rigidity of the classic corporate suit and breath some warmth and coziness into it. He delivered a slick, thought-provoking collection packed with tailoring — and comfort: Suits were cut loose and baggy — no restrictive tailoring here — while shirts were fully unbuttoned, flashing chest flesh. Coats were even bigger, boxy and long enough to stash an umbrella or two, and had the sharply exaggerated shoulders that Gvasalia is making his signature at the brand. Footwear came in the form of chunky soled sneakers, combat-style or rain boots.

Fendi Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Menswear FW2017

Silvia Venturini Fendi unpopped the lid of her Lego box for this playful collection of sports-inspired silhouettes in primary brights and animal patterns with a Pop Art spirit.
Many of Milan’s designers are determined to keep things real this season, with an eye to dressing men for everyday in easy clothes pulled from gym bags, sports fields, college kids’ wardrobes or the hiking trail.
The colors, including electric tangerine, bubblegum pink, bright green and cobalt — not to mention the patchwork and painterly fur details on lapels and collars — were “an optimistic sign for the future.”

To convey a sense of lightness and practicality, Fendi worked with nylon for puffers, trousers and jackets. The dark pieces were almost always luxed-up with contrasting pops of colored fur.

Models marched down two long catwalks in androgynous looks — a leopard-print coat and pink tracksuit trousers worn with furry orange slides, or a dark coat, its fur lapels done in tutti-frutti colors. Contrast, go-faster stripes stretched down the sides of trousers or came as furry strips on jacket arms.

There was a cartoonish feel to the boxy bags — which came in electric pink or screaming yellow, some with fuzzy bobbles dangling off the handles — and to the fur coats that were inset with soccer-fan scarves reading Fantastic Fendi.

Versace Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Menswear FW2017

Gone were the beefcake models, the shiny Medusa logos — not to mention most of the flashiness that have become synonymous with Versace men’s wear. In their place came subtler elements: blanket coats, trenches and shearlings, and lean, sensible suits.

Donatella Versace’s mission this season was to dress a variety of men — not just showmen. Versace replaced her tall, buff boys with an international cast of models who were smaller and, well, more “normal” looking.
As they hightailed it down the multiple, intersecting runways they looked a lot like commuters — rich ones, at least — decked out in a variety of urban uniforms, staring straight ahead and striding with a determined step.
Some wore businessman clothes such as camel coats, trenches and lightweight topcoats, some of which were slit up the sides. Suits were fitted while trousers flared slightly, and had little slashes at the bottom à la unzipped track suits. Other models worked a street-y look, dressed in puffers — with a lumberjack check — or a patterned bomber mismatched with plaid trousers, and a baseball cap.

Among the highlights was a soft black-and-red blanket coat with a triangle pattern, inspired by traditional Jewish textiles, a dark suit with an original, off-kilter tartan drawn by hand, and hoodies and tops adorned with collaged photographs of neo-classical statues.

Marni Catwalk Fashion Show Menswear Milan FW2017

It’s not an easy challenge to set a new path for a fashion brand after the departure of its founder and creative director. With his debut collection for Marni, Francesco Risso was wise enough to not completely shock the label’s followers — there were references to the Consuelo Castiglioni era in the color palette, the graphic patterns and the use of fabrics — while attempting to tap into a younger generation of customers. So instead of continuing Castiglioni’s strive for quirkiness, Risso embraced a more approachable, cool street approach.

While Castiglioni with her approach to fashion drew fans of the avant garde, Risso with his first collection seemed interested in developing a more playful, youthful image for the brand — one that is definitely less edgy.

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