From muted tone to Dior glamor
PARIS: Hedi Slimane offered up a dynamic winter menswear collection for Dior that seemed like a fond teenage memory, wrapping up a week of catwalk shows in the French capital.
Slimane's nonchalant glamor brought to mind hours spent as a teenager getting ready to go out while trying to look like no effort had been made at all.
Christian Dior creation is revealed as part of the men's Autumn-Winter 2007-2008 ready-to-wear (French PAP) collection. AFP |
Their New Romantic hairstyles, dramatically swept to one side or backcombed, added an 80s-flavor, but Slimane captured a sense of effortless chic that seemed thoroughly modern.
With all the glamor of youth and in mostly heavy "rock star" black and gray, the collection provided a punchy finale to five days of catwalk shows for autumn-winter 2007-08 by leading menswear designers.
"A memory of adolescence", Slimane said of his collection after the show backstage, pointing to the mid-80s and recalling a club he used to go to when he was a teenager.
The slight silhouette traditionally favored by Slimane was loosened up a bit with "saroual", or baggy North African style trousers. Layering long shirts under shorter jackets also softened the look.
Earlier in the day, two Japanese labels made their debut in the French capital with two distinct approaches to men's style.
Having presented his collections in Tokyo until now, Kiminori Morishita said that he had decided to bring his wardrobe focused on a richness of materials to Paris because "it's the city of fashion".
With the fabrics all produced in Japan, including traditional Hogushi print technique and reproduced 19th century materials, the wardrobe seemed destined for a young aristocrat.
Jodhpur-inspired trousers and long boots looked fit for a day's riding, while clean-cut models in flying jackets and white scarves had an air of a dashing aviator. A perfectly proportioned bell-shaped cape was one of the highlights.
At Miharayasuhiro, which has shown its collections in Milan since 2004, the theme of piecing together different materials for texture and colors ran throughout a trench coat had a knitted back while the front and shoulders were in a contrasting material.
The clothes had a sense of careful consideration in their design with a vitality and wearability, although a gray woollen jumpsuit zipped up the front might well require an adventurous spirit.
AFP
(China Daily 02/02/2007 page19)
