Sixty-seven brands are present at Paris Men's Fashion Week, which runs from January 21 to 27, but only 37 are showing on the catwalk. And the other 30? They're organizing presentations. What does this involve?
To be officially part of Paris Fashion Week, you have to submit your application to the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion, which, together with a panel of experts, each season determines which brands are allowed to run shows and which are supposed to present their clothes on racks. In general, fashion shows are reserved for long-established labels or those whose highly creative collections are best showcased by moving models. Occasionally, a label that used to run shows will give them up for a season, either to save money or because it is going through a period of transition and doesn't want the visibility offered by a show filmed and broadcast on social media.
This season, we've seen all kinds of presentations. Berluti, LVMH's Italian shoemaker celebrating its 130th anniversary, set up shop in a private mansion overlooking the Parc Monceau to present the fundamentals of its business in an educational way: one room for lace-up shoes made from a single strip of leather, another for the mao-collared forest jacket available in all materials, and a final room for Venezia rigid leather bags. Obvious.
At Celine, designer Hedi Slimane has left, and the new artistic director, Michael Rider, hasn't yet had time to settle in. In its Left Bank showroom, entirely designed by Slimane, the brand presented a collection designed by the studio while waiting for Rider. Not an easy exercise. Short jackets with gold buttons and checked blazers harked back to the past, but whimsical pearls popped up on collars, jeans were widened and T-shirts were adorned with subliminal messages.
The situation is similar at Dries Van Noten, where new artistic director Julian Klausner will officially show his first collection at March's women's fashion week. For this men's presentation, he was only responsible for styling the baroque silhouettes. Beaded embroidery ran along the linings of coats with tweed gigot sleeves, and removable collars and cuffs ennobled silhouettes enhanced with fresh flowers. The presentation allowed us to observe these myriad details up close.
When she's not putting on a show at women's fashion weeks, Isabel Marant offers her men's line as a presentation. We discovered this collection in her offices, a large, light-filled, loft-like space on Place des Victoires, with white brick walls, small alcoves and plush benches inspired by the artists' wardrobe, between tie-dye jeans, soft knitwear and soft tee-shirts with rock accents.
Acne Studios, which only catwalks its women's collections, presented its men's line at its Paris headquarters in the 10th arrondissement, on the first floor of a handsome townhouse that doubles as an exhibition space. This season, the Swedish label has revisited its classics: extra-large leather suits, XXL striped shirts and loose-fitting denim zipped jackets. Or jeans that looked like they were embroidered with lace, but on closer inspection turned out to be printed. Presentations aren't eye-popping, but certainly help you see better.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.