What is menswear today? The men’s collections have become increasingly experimental over the last couple of seasons. As fluidity and queerness have become trending topics in pop culture (thanks in part to the stylish Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Troye Sivan, and Bad Bunny) and as runways have started to feature non-binary and trans models … Read more
We were in Paris, at a presentation space near the Atlas metro, for this preface to a new geographical chapter in the progress of Samuel Ross and A-Cold-Wall. Ross, who prior to the pandemic had been showing Italian made collections in Milan, had kept news of the two presentations and two raves he threw here … Read more
While we quickly forgot most of the valuable lessons we told ourselves the pandemic had taught us, it does seem to have affected one aspect of our lives: our approach to clothes shopping. Around the shows this month in Paris, there was a noticeable difference in the way women and men dress. Somehow our choices … Read more
This Pigalle collection came with two parties, the first last Tuesday at Paris’s wonderful citywide solstice debauch, the Fête de la Musique, and the second a follow-up edition of Stéphane Ashpool’s ongoing jazz shebang shortly afterwards. Then on Sunday he hosted a community basketball party/tournament on his block and unveiled the clothes—along with two new … Read more
After 25 years as a fashion designer, Hedi Slimane has built up a rich discography of menswear: a back catalogue that continues to influence progressive masculine dressing today. Ever since Pierre Bergé named him as creative director of menswear at Rive Gauche Homme at Yves Saint Laurent (as it was then known) back in 1997, … Read more
“I don’t really like the term ‘Y2K,’” quipped Archie Alled-Martinez during a Zoom preview from his hotel in Paris. “We just used to call it ‘millennium’ back then, so that’s what it is for me.” Alled-Martinez is part of a wave of millennial designers that is remarkably skilled at putting together a visual mood that … Read more
Rei Kawakubo has said that if she could have invented one garment, it would have been the white shirt. “It’s a fundamental part of a man’s wardrobe,” her husband, translator, and company CEO, Adrian Joffe, said on her behalf. “Shirt, jacket, and pants are the fundamental basis.” There’s irony in the fact that Comme des … Read more
There’s a fall 2014 Sacai leather Perfecto/hunting jacket hybrid in my closet that I pulled out several times this winter. I have other, newer jackets, including by Sacai; the fact that I keep going back to that one says a lot about what Chitose Abe does. There’s some special kind of magic in her mash-ups; … Read more
Spring 2023 brought an air of introspection and sentimentality to Portugal-based label Ernest W. Baker. Founders Reid Baker and Inês Amorim decided to look inwards this season and find shelter in the innocence of childhood as they reflected on the state of the world. Their first stop was to revisit their spring 2020 collection. “We’re … Read more
By any objective measure at least, Acne Studios is on top. September will see the proudly independent Swedish fashion arthouse mark a decade on the Paris Fashion Week calendar. And it used the pandemic dynamically, making a multi-million euro investment to cook up a fresh retail concept for the grand store that opened with much … Read more