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Paris menswear designers buck crisis aesthetic
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-23 10:46 PARIS – Paris designers spurned the temptation to play it safe during the economic crisis, sending out challenging, fun and bold collections that went well beyond the basic, perennially marketable suit.
Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto dared bankers to go to work in their PJ's with a collection of sleepwear-inspired suits, while French wild-child Jean Paul Gaultier served up jazzed-up zoot suits for the entire family. Hugo, German suitmaker Hugo Boss' avant garde line, fulfilled its mission with a bold display that married a 1960's silhouette with tailored, futuristic cuts to create a mod-does-the-Matrix look. Even Thursday's most marketable shows, Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten, had an edge. That was an element that was largely absent from the recent winter 2009-2010 menswear shows in Milan, where the perfectly tailored sober suit reigned supreme. JEAN PAUL GAULTIER This menswear-in-name-only show burst with an energy, cheekiness and joy capable of sweeping away even the densest clouds of financial gloom and doom. Men, women and children of all ages, sizes, shapes and colors skipped down the catwalk in extra-large Afro wigs and zippy zoot suits. Straps that looked like suspenders confused about their mission in life sprouted out of trouser legs, cinching tight around the models' ankles. Others fastened snugly around the torso like parachuters' harnesses. The children, who ranged in age from wide-eyed toddlers to skulking teens, were dressed just like the adults, some of them in snappy three-piece suits and tophats. It was the first time Gaultier -- who has mellowed since the 1990s, when he forged his reputation as the wild child of French fashion -- presented a children's line, under the title Gaultier Junior. YOHJI YAMAMOTO The Japanese designer woke up the classic pajama set, dusted the sleep off and called it streetwear. Silky trench coats that looked like well-loved bathrobes topped oversized pajama suits in navy and white polka-dots. Coats, in fuzzy flannel-like wool, were cut wide -- almost like a blanket -- and some showed flashes of contrasting white lining. "I was looking for the very most luxurious moment and I found it's before sleeping," Yamamoto told The Associated Press in a backstage interview. HUGO, HUGO BOSS Hugo art director Bruno Pieters drew on mod and futuristic elements to create innovative looks that at once evoked monks, matadors and the Matrix. Pieters played with volume, pairing slim cut, Mao-collared sports coats or cropped, second-skin matador jackets with trousers that zipped at the ankle for a slim silhouette. Other looks went bulky, with oversized, with wool coats and low-waist crutch pants. Voluminous hooded capes that looked like they'd been plucked of a Benedictine friar gave the models a monastic quality that was right at home in the show's venue, a 15th century former monastery in central Paris. American actor Vincent Gallo hailed the show -- the label's first menswear display in Paris -- as "avant garde," adding he was "startled a bit" by the show's "extreme aesthetic." DRIES VAN NOTEN The Belgian designer's collection was, ironically, among the most marketable of day one of Paris menswear week. Van Noten, whose use of ethnic elements and vivid prints has won him a cult following, pared down his palette for Thursday's show, which was held in the French Communist Party's Paris headquarters. The tailoring was razor-sharp, and sartorial details abounded -- like a single metal hook that replaced a row of buttons on a double-breasted blazer. Many of the overcoats were double-breasted, too, and tied snugly around the waist with matching wool belts. Scott Schuman, whose fashion blog The Sartorialist has attracted a cult following of his own, applauded Van Noten for taking "a step in a new direction" without alienating his fan base. "You're looking at this and you're thinking 'I'd buy 90 percent of this, and the other 10 percent gives me something to think about and maybe pick up on later,'" said Schuman. LOUIS VUITTON The French luggage-maker hit the road with an appealing collection of vacation-friendly fabrics, cut slim for an almost aerodynamic silhouette. Still, it was accessories, the giant label's cash-cow, that stole the limelight on Thursday. Models padded the runway in tomato-red hightop sneakers designed by superstar rapper Kanye West, who donned his own pair -- and a matching red scarf -- for the occasion. The sneakers, which are embossed with Vuitton's logo and also come in white, beige, black and blue, are to hit Vuitton boutiques in June. The models also toted the label's signature monogram luggage -- embossed on monochrome leather -- on foldable wheelies or carried shoulder bags made like a soccer ball out of monogramed pentagons. YVES SAINT LAURENT Models looked as if they were preparing for a flood of biblical proportions as they skulked the Yves Saint Laurent's runway in all things cropped, from high-water pants to abbreviated jackets and truncated overcoats. An overcast palette of inky blacks and somber grays dominated the Wednesday evening presentation, which featured distressed but noble fabrics like cashmeres, silks and buttery leathers. Could the insistence on abbreviation been a clever trick to save on fabric costs in times of economic turmoil? Designer Stefano Pilati insisted the financial crisis hadn't actively influenced the collection. "This house used to lose money, so I've always been very conscious of financial concerns," the Italian designer told The Associated Press. "But so far, if the crisis has affected my collection, it's done so unconsciously." |
