Paris Men's Fashion Week looking to young designers and Japan

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 18, 2016

After London and Milan, men's fashion heads to Paris. Starting this Wednesday 20 and running through Sunday 24, the City of Light will unveil its men's ready-to-wear collections for the FW16/17 season. On the calendar, 48 shows, one less than in June, as well as some fifteen presentations.

Valentino, Rick Owens, Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto, Givenchy, Kenzo, Dior Homme, Hermès, Lanvin and Saint Laurent will be present, sharing the stage with emerging talents and other rising stars in fashion. There are also a few names that won't be present this season, including Korean designer Juun.J, who was the guest of honour at the recent edition of the Pitti Uomo trade show.

Tailor Cifonelli, who arrived on the Paris catwalks last January, has this year opted for a presentation, as has Hood by Air, the urban sports label from Brooklyn, idolised in the United States by celebrities and the hip-hop world, who showed in Paris for the first time in June. This season it has opted to go the presentation route, as have 3.1 Philip Lim and Julius.

The programme also includes several newcomers. Starting with the young brand AVOC, which will be the very first show this Wednesday. Created in 2014 by the duo Laura Do and Bastien Laurent, AVOC offers an original concept of contemporary clothing, where the setting and connection with the decor play an essential role. 

Also showing for the first time on the official calendar, on Wednesday as well right after AVOC, is the label OAMC. Launched in 2012, by creative director Luke Meier, previously head designer of the New York brand Supreme, and by Arnaud Faeh, part of the marketing team at Carhartt, OAMC offers a laidback wardrobe that is very popular with refined boutiques.

Among the young brands figures Strateas Carlucci, the Australian label founded by Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci, which showed on the runway for the first time in Paris in June.

Also present will be French menswear label Etudes Studio and Parisian collective Andrea Crews, who joined the official menswear calendar in June 2014, as well as Umit Benan, Sacai and Officine Generale, founded in 2012 by Pierre Mahéo.

In addition, the spotlight will be on the Japanese, with more than ten Japanese labels on the programme, including two brands showing on the Paris runway for the first time: Christian Dada, whose menswear has shown in the French capital before but not on the official calendar, and White Mountaineering.

Christian Dada is led by designer Masanori Morikawa, whose womenswear collections are presented in Tokyo. He chose the name of his label as a nod to Christian Dior and the anarchist spirit of dadaism. His work explores a dark, deconstructed universe and plays with leather and silk.

Created by Yosuke Aizawa, White Mountaineering has also presented in Paris the past two seasons outside of the official calendar. The brand with a streetwear-military style focuses on the quality of the materials it uses and the functionality of clothing. This season, it notably collaborated with Adidas. The duo were one of the guests of honour at Pitti Uomo.

Another return to the podium is Cerruti, which bowed out in June after the departure of its artistic director Aldo Maria Camillo. The creations by its new creative director, Jason Basmajian, will be unveiled to the world on Friday.