While the Milan season was much better than expected, we are now in Paris where highlight after highlight goes on the catwalk.
It’s a fact. The London and New York men’s seasons are on their last breath and in our previous Milan story we had talked about Italy’s new men’s fashion’s hub Pitti Uomo in Florence and what this does to the Milan season. But it seems that Paris is getting bigger and bigger, picking up more and more labels from Asia, United States and London.
AMI
Alexandre Mattiussi’s AMI show was the big opener on Tuesday night. He picked the Grand Palais and while arriving we expected to be ushered in a side entrance as usual for smaller brands. But no, Mattiussi had the entire Palais to himself and he used it to maximum effect. We had already mentioned last season that Mattiussi has added show master skills to his repertoire. His Palais de Chaillot show where the curtains dropped at the end to reveal the Eiffel Tower was highly memorable. And now this. Mattiussi opted for strong tailoring in black to open and close the show. His high-waisted one pleat pants were outstanding and in line with the new elegance that is taking over men’s wear. He added strong colors with orange and pink and paid homage to his Parisian roots with a finale of large pearls embroidered on jackets and pants. This is a designer who is getting better and better.
Strong tailoring and vibrant colors at the AMI show in Paris
Valentino
Pierpaolo Piccioli at Valentino is also constantly switching gears for his men’s collection to keep it fresh. This show was more or less simple for his standards. It was all about officer pants with stripes on the side and printed shirts worn in and over trousers. It made for a relaxed mood after last season’s black tailoring affair but looked ultra fresh. He brought back some of his camouflage patterns from early days and asked the artist Roger Dean to conjure up utopian landscapes in bright colors for his prints splashed on the shirts. It worked beautifully and with Lewis Hamilton in the front row who is on contract with Tommy Hilfiger, it showed that pure creative men’s fashion is too hard to resist for a mega endorsement F1 pilot.
Colorful camouflage and printed shirts at the Valentino runway
OAMC
Luke Meier with his label OAMC is also on an interesting journey. Originally seen as a street wear brand, his OAMC has deftly used his experience as head designer of Jil Sander with his wife Lucie to elevate the collection. Better fabrics, higher price points, new positioning and shows, which telegraph this intention. His new collection shown at the Palais de Tokyo was full of new ideas like inventive belt closures via hooked attachments plus hyper-modern tailoring. His ultra boxy and voluminous suits featuring XXL jackets looked the height of current chic. The familiar color palette of white, cream and beige also helps to underscore OAMC’s drive to become a non-military, modern uniform maker.
OAMC brought modern tailoring and oversized silhouettes to the runway
