For the first large collection of men’s clothing at Paris Fashion Week, Givenchy’s models walked the water.
A huge fog filled with milky-white water and salty fog in the backyard of the Ecole Militia served as a liquid runway where models, often empty-chested and wearing waterproof footwear, splashed into a blind set of light.
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Matthew M. Williams apparently wanted to make a splash at his first stand-alone men’s clothing show after being hired in 2020. But has the American designer dived deep enough?
Here are some highlights from Wednesday’s Spring-Summer 2023 Shows:
Givenchy makes a shallow splash
It was just the name of Audrey Hepburn’s high-fashion Givenchy. Williams ’outlook is urban, sports-obsessed and low-key.
The American designer, Lady Gaga and a former collaborator of Kanye West, has brought her streetwear vibe back to the runways in Paris. This season’s music was in the style of Jamaican reggae singer Alkaline, who worked on the show’s soundtrack.
These looks were defined by long and loose silhouettes, Fred Hems, thick chains and horrible masks.
Williams’ past observations have made many appearances. Bomber jackets with laser-cut house logos were inspired by the show that opened, which designer Harlem praised in New York. Elsewhere, California street styles have been mixed with prep style, such as ripped pants.
Williams said of the backstage of his collection that “everything is based on reality. I can see the guy in every look that exists on the street – for me it’s really a modern approach.”
But sometimes this reduces the daily vibe collection. For example, a simple pink sweat suit, wearing an empty chest with gold chains, was not a sufficiently developed idea for a high fashion runway.
Still, tailoring was strong throughout – expected for the house – for example, a wide, 80s black tailored coat that cut a delicate shape.
DIOR’s Cruise Spa
Marking Haute couture week, Dior is reviving a floating 19th-century spa that existed on an elegant barge on the Pont-Neuf Bridge.
The spa, called Baines de la Samaritan, was known at the time as the mother of the most luxurious and modern luxury spas in Western Europe.
This season, Dior Chevrolet Blanc is teaming up with Paris to create its own vision of the cruising spa, with a capacity of four passengers in five suites for a two-hour ride across the Seine River. It will run from June 29 to July 13.
The boat’s furnishings include wicker furniture and a parasol in the blue toile de jouite, a dior pattern explained by current designer Maria Grazia Chiuri,
Blue marble brake loose
Designer Anthony Alvarez, who considers Justin Bieber to be one of his clients, collided with streetwear and knitting in a melting pot on one of his shows.
A combination of travel with urban clothing and bright eye color in its fashion repertoire for the MTV generation to see Alvarez.
For the spring-summer, he created Psychedelia to create a chic, loose fitting collection. An acid yellow-green oversize coat with multi-colored loose pants, blue marble printed across, marble texture was seen. The pajama pants look of the 80s was responsible for one of the best looks in the collection, pearl white. It came in baggy jeans with a glass four-leaf clover.
But this show also harked from the rich tradition of designers. Alvarez was born in New York with a mix of Filipino, Spanish, French and Italian roots. The collection celebrates this globe-trotting vision. Ethnic shirts mixed with silken varsity bombers, and tied leopard fowlers that were ready for safaris and a rock concert.
The brand name itself is global – borrowed from the iconic Earth photo taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew.
Etudes takes the train
At Trivia, design triumvirate Jose LaMali, Jeremy Agri and Aurelian Arbett have used an abandoned railroad on the outskirts of Paris – and creative springboard – for an urban-themed display.
It was the first in an upcoming series of site-specific shows to use a location or environment for design inspiration. Paris was a logical starting point for this French brand – although there was a “little known Paris” that the House said it was channeling. Guests watched the Petit Centurion, or Little Belt, railroad from the platform – a thirty-kilometer trail around the city.
Mixed with ripped white jeans, distressed denim, hiking sneakers, industrial-looking baseball caps, boiler suits and workman aprons with practical toggles and straps. They seem to have deprived the youth of the 90s of the right to vote, who may have been traveling on unused railways.
These urban references spread nicely over the stitches. The loose-fitting jacket, with a boxy 80s silhouette, came on top of matching pants that were cut in a fun way below the knee, leading to military-style boots.
BIANCA SAUNDERS puts on the second Paris show
Andam Award-winning British designer Bianca Saunders, one of only a handful of women’s designers in men’s clothing, was in a confident mood on Wednesday at an ingenious sophomore show that aired on her local London channel.
Saunders, who has Caribbean roots, quickly rose to fame after graduating from Central St. Martin a few years ago. Minimalism was at the center of this display.
Excessively sized variegated details like collars and pockets have been creatively transformed into artistic shapes, sometimes in a look that fits the space-age. A silver glam rock suit with a sanitized elastic pump has provoked the epidemic.
Elsewhere, medieval peasant-like woolen underwear, which felt quite Vivian Westwood, had the appearance of a seemingly effortless trendy touch.
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