The Paris Fashion Week Menswear’s schedule reserved the best from Parisian and international fashion houses both for him and for her. Brands and designers looked beyond horizons and escaped the comfort zone through innovation, sustainability and creative manifestation to best communicate the unprecedented times we live in with meaningful designs and presentations.
Here are the highlights from Paris Fashion Week Men’s Spring/Summer 2023
GIVENCHY
Held at the emblematic École-Militaire, Givenchy presented the first menswear collection by Matthew Williams on a water runway erected around a white box emitting mists of fog. The runway opened with an array of leather jackets over-embroidered with patterns and matching shorts patchworked from upcycled scraps from the Givenchy leather factories. The SS23 collection reflected the accurate savoir faire of the atelier showcasing remodernised uniforms combined with sportswear blending elegance with everyday wear. Williams reinterpreted clothes that we wear the most like cargo trousers, t-shirts, and hoodies applying first class Parisian craftsmanship accompanied with accessories that completed the newest Givenchy’s super luxe look.
Louis Vuitton
The final collection of the Abloh’s design team paid tribute to the childlike imagination of Abloh translated throughout the collection and the location featuring a yellow ramp twisting and completed with loops where guests were seated. The playfulness of Abloh’s vision came through the runway with looks decorated with paper planes, biker jackets, monogrammed speakers all with a vibrant and nostalgic selection of colours. Entertainment was centric to the show’s highlights with a soundtrack by the Florida A&M University band and artists Kendrick Lamar singing paying homage to Abloh with the ode on repeat “Long live Virgil” delicately accompanying the Finale of the show.
Rick Owens
Following the designer’s recent trip to Egypt, Rick Owens presents “Edfu”, the latest S/S23 menswear newly taking over the Palais de Tokyo fountain in Paris. The collection carries the archaic and innovative aesthetics that makes the fashion house stands out amongst the Paris Fashion Week’s schedule. Owens took all kinds of inspirations by Ptolemaic Temple of Horus and developed a range of looks inspired by the timelessness of ancient Egypt bringing on the runway transparency, contemporaneity and simplicity. A transparent and sheer effect can be seen on jackets, shirts, pants made with dyneem, a fiber considered one of the strongest in the world. The presentation broke the media with a series of wrecking balls on fire repeatedly crushing on the ground that alludes to senseless destruction on repeat since the beginning of time.
Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto took over the digital calendar for fashion week and showcased their menswear collection “pour homme” live streamed from the brand’s Tokyo flagship store. For its Spring Summer 2023, Yamamoto revamps the brand’s design codes presenting suits with new colours in shades of deep blue, ivory and grey combined with colourful mixed prints with text. Phrases like “What are you made of?”, “ I hate you” and “Lonesome” appeared throughout the collection communicating newness and maintaining the avant-gardeness of the Japanese Maison.
Walter Van Beirendonck
Pioneer of the Paris Fashion Week calendar, Walter Van Beirendonck presented its Spring/Summer 2023 “WIRWAR” at the Theatre de la Madeleine with a real theatrical show divided in two acts blending contemporaneity with Shakespearean’s inspirations. With 12 looks, Act 1 debuted the runway with pleated ruffles and shoulder padding extending volumes with three dimensional jackets mixed with slogan tank tops and 16th century ruffled collars. The Act II reserved kinky outerwear and accessories with sportswear and a t-shirt decorated with the word “Peace” along with gold leather ankle boots and bow-tied shorts all elevating a Walter Van Beirendonck S/S23 between past, present and future.
LOEWE
Loewe schowcases their last S/S 23 by Jonathan Anderson presenting a collection with a symbiosis of nature and technology. As a result of a collaboration with Spanish bio-designer Paula Ulargui Escalona, clothes become alive with real plants seeded and grown onto fabrics along with looks featuring high definition screens projecting scenes of nature and landscapes desktops with backgrounds of oceans and sunsets. Green materials were seeded onto shoes, coats and jeans which growed over 20 days in a polytunnel in the suburbs of Paris bringing progress on innovation and sustainability on the runway.
“I think it’s this idea of how nature can lead technology or technology can lead nature. It is not a viewpoint of what is happening in the world, but it’s more about if we experiment then we might be able to find different methods within fashion to be able to progress it” – Jonathan Anderson.
Celine
Slimane returns at the Palais de Tokyo presenting Celine’s S/S 2023 named Dysfunctional Bauhaus. The collection brought typicalties from Slimane’s aesthetics with rock star vibes and featuring artworks from David Weiss, Alyss Estay, and Renata Petersen. However, the scene was taken over by K-pop hyper acclaimed superstars Lisa from Black Pink and Kim Taehyung from the BTS which caused tons of fans to turn up outside the venue to greet the super stars. Slimane has been a long supporter of the K-pop scene with periodically dressing members of the groups and appointing Lisa as Celine’s global ambassador.
Maison Mihara Yasuhiro
Maison Mihara Yasuhiro returns on the Paris Fashion Week schedule with their 25th anniversary show at the scenic Parisian shopping arcade Passage des Princes. The latest Maison Mihara Yasuhiro’s S/S 23, both for him and for her, sees inspirations from 50s and 70s vintage wear reinvented with the layered styles which are a speciality of the Maison. The Japanese designer presented on the runway trompe-l’oeil looks giving perspective and dimension to the outfits accompanied with “shrink looks” to maximise the attention to the female lines. Other typicalities and techniques seen in vintage clothing were reconstructed onto utilitarian pieces like belted sequins dresses and denim jackets for her, and shirts interweaved with hoodies along with multi pattern denims for him. The house also debuted a new line of sneakers named “George” with clay soles inspired by running shoes from the 80s and the 90s. With a magic Finale with models holding white balloons and soap bubbles flying around the venue, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro pulled out a memorable post-pandemic show that made us all looking forward to next season.
RAINS
Titled “Connect”, the Danish fashion house Rains debuts their Spring/Summer 2023 held at the iconic Le 104 at Paris Fashion Week Men’s. Looking back at the early days of the New York Club Kids movement, Rains’ SS23 is a call to connect by taking inspiration from the energies that united the Club Kids from all walks of subcultural groups that transmitted authenticity and acceptance between one another. The runway saw sharp silhouettes achieved through laser cut construction with long trench coats, avant-garde aluminium shapes, and skin tight tops with single-tone colour palettes in blue, grey, ivory and black.
Mowalola
UK based Nigerian designer Mowalola debuted her Spring Summer 2023 “Burglarwear” at Paris Fashion Week. The collection elaborates the meaning of stealing with an array of looks that reinterpret thief characters and their styles through Mowalola’s perspective. Including, bankers, pastors and internet scammers, the S/S 23 sees on the runway ecclesiastical wear with a crucifix and black leather, along with low-rise trousers, miniskirts and balaclavas presented in a colour palette with flashing yellows, blood reds and shades of blue. Mowalola’s S/S 23 gave a first glimpse to her newest collaboration with New Balance designed with memories of sweat- hazed dancefloors ideal for long nights out and busy days on the run with touches of purple, yellow and black that fully completed the newest Mowalola’s signature looks.
