Givenchy Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
‘The cult of communion’ was the starting point of the Givenchy menswear-collection. The church incense and organ music that preceded the show set the mood already. Tisci printed innocent white brocade with spooky looking vestigial faces. He played with layering and proportion and gave just a small reference to priestly vestments by adding a white collar that peeked from under black coats or ice-pink satin.
The designer had artists reinterpret classic religious imagery to provide the collection’s graphic tees and sweats, which have made Tisci’s work for Givenchy such a visible presence around the world.
While the designer continued his devotion to active shapes — sweatshirts, polos, T-shirts and baseball jackets — he set aside his recent fixation with skirts for men. Instead, bi-level tunics flapped under suit jackets. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, the tailoring was bold and linear, with triangles of fabric inset into lapels and shirt collars.Tisci treated feminine fabrics like satin and organza as sweatshirt material, stamping his sporty jerseys with female religious icons instead of player numbers.
Junya Watanabe Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
The Beatles were the soundtrack for a sweet, urban/preppy collection from Junya Watanabe. He said he moved away from structure although his men looked rather sharp-dressed. There was a easy feel to the collection with the fresh-faced models in suits and separates in cornflower blue, khaki and pale gray. Pants were cropped above the ankle or cut into trim Bermudas. Individual touches included elbow patches and pocket trims in shirt fabrics.
Ann Demeulemeester Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
This time Ann Demeulemeester – the Belgian queen of black – wanrted to prove she can use color too in her collections. Her show opened with deep-wine purples and ended with orange and sea blue.
She may have changed her color palette, but her man stays the same: romantic and a loner. Some oriental elements resonated in this collection, like the side-tied silk kimono tops bubbling out from beneath jackets, trailing sashes behind. Demeulemeester made it her own by undercutting preciousness with ease. She loosened her stricter silhouette with wide, soft pants, some printed with casual stripes or graphic roses.
Dries van Noten Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
It was all about camouflage-prints at Dries Van Noten. He carved them into tailored jackets and crisp Bermudas. He used them to line parkas, to trim color-blocked shirts and he splashed them onto cobweb sweaters. Van Noten presented many ways to mix the prints into a modern wardrobe: as a shirt under a navy suit; as a light, silken trench over tapered trousers; as printed pants or shorts under a shantung blazer in a pumpkin shade.
Overall, the athletic chic vibe, heightened by the rugged sport sandals that grounded every look, was masculine and appealing.
Louis Vuitton Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
Next year is the 30th anniversary of the Louis Vuitton Cup, prelude to the America’s Cup, so it was no surprise Kim Jones took LV to sea in his third season as Men’s Style Director for the house. He added sport to LV’s two totems, travel and luxury.
There were chic options for all the crew aboard: handsome double-breasted navy suits, rugged and colorful foul-weather gear and artfully frayed and decaying denim shorts and jackets.
Rick Owens Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
The message of Rick Owens was lightness: unstructured jackets in sheer organza, worn with shorts with panels at the front and back, or fitted pants. Then monastic dresses entered the picture, like a sweeping caftan in blurry hand-painted gray checks, accessorized with bold chain bracelets.
More wearable – read: urban – were the bombers and hooded parkas in summer-light organza, or cotton anoraks in graphic kite prints.
Mugler Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013
Nicola Formichetti, creative director of Mugler, choose an aquatic theme for his menswear-collection. He and menswear designer Romain Kremer brought in a new tailoring team and focused at fundamentals — jackets, pants and shirts — “without being too extreme,” as Formichetti said. The suits had a muscular presence. The look was sharp, with structured shoulders, no lapels, and attached, cutout tops revealing shards of skin. The theme worked well for graphic scuba tops and sleek trenchcoats in sea foam green or oil-slick black.
Raf Simons Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012
Raf Simons took elements of masculine and feminine dressing and mixed those into a sporty, tailored collection. Delicate floral prints, pleats, broderie anglaise and shades of pink were applied to modern, angular silhouettes. The models – with long, wet bangs – wore shorts with slits, boxy white shirts or overcoats with backs in floral prints and pleated skirts. Simons also presented long pants worn with colorful sneakers. Some T-shirts had illustrations of women.
DSquared Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
The DSquared-collection reminded of hard-core club gear, with Dean and Dan Caten using Village People leather caps, safety pin chains, tangles of black crucifixes, cobweb embroidery and neon and leopard-print accents to sex up their standard acts: sharp tailoring with cropped jackets and fitted pants, form-fitting white shirts, distressed denim and the like.
Giorgio Armani Menswear Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2013
Easy Comfort. Giorgio Armani sent out a legion of unstructured silhouettes ranging from gently rumpled jackets with unpadded shoulders to the laid-back white suits, with Bermuda shorts that closed the show. ‘This is a sexy man, but a classy one, a classy gigolo,’, the designer told reporters of WWD. Well, he was the man who set a new sartorial standard for the male archetype in 1980 when he dressed Richard Gere for his first major film role in American Gigolo.
Knits ranged from the loose fitting to the more body-conscious. Sports jackets — some the color of faded denim — had a breezy, lived-in look.
After the show, Armani told reporters that designers have a role to play in educating men and improving the way they look. “Fashion has reached grotesque levels, and [with this collection] I felt the need to stand my ground, to improve men aesthetically.”
