Paris Fashion Week Recap
What are men wearing right now, footwear that made the biggest splash, key runway moments, brands that left the strongest impressions, and where is style heading next.
This felt like the busiest fashion week yet, and the weather in Paris certainly didn’t help — but I’m sure you’ve heard all about it by now. The forecast is suggestion an uptick in “100 Degrees” in the captions as we collectively post our instagram dumps recapping the week.
Navigating multiple shows a day across the city while stopping by showrooms to catch up with familiar faces where I’d quickly charge my phone while trying to decipher where men’s style is heading next required me to take a pause on writing for the week. But it is unbelievably good to be back at the comfort of my own home while I write these words.
In today’s letter we’re recapping what I saw during Men’s Fashion Week this summer: what are men wearing right now, the signs that tell us where style is heading next, key runway moments, brands that left the strongest impressions, footwear that made the biggest splash, and the best showrooms I’ve visited this week.
WHAT WERE THE MEN WEARING
Natural fiber shirts mixed with colorful socks. I saw a lot of short sleeve button-ups not just on the streets, but in the showrooms for next summer season as well.
Spotted a couple of caps by MAN-TLE on the streets — shape of it is insane, so there’s no surprise there. It’s a really great hat.
Village PM was the clear sneaker I saw most on feet. Felt like they were literally everywhere, my own feet included.
The new Village 2PM model is going to go crazy next year. Much sleeker, with a more rounded back that sits on a much thinner rubber. Really liked this one. Flip-flops were undeniably the most popular footwear I saw on both men, and women. It was kind of crazy to see how quickly these took over fashion. There were literally worn with every sort of outfit.
A couple of people came up to tell me they agree: we should not be mixing white socks with loafers. Sadly I did see this happening a bunch this week.
Short sleeve button-ups are starting to pop-up more and more.
Between needing 3-4 showers a day, fresh clothes were depleting quickly, and I found that the overall style shifted by the end of the week. I think everyone was tired and was just throwing on whatever they had left, but in doing so, it felt as though the style on the streets became even better by the end of the week — it was less about pulling off fits and more about just living in clothes.
Footwear was pretty solid all around: Soshiostuki + ASICS was one of my favorite sneaker moments from the runway, Moonstar is busy with new collaborations with Body of Work, and Lady White Co., Another Aspect is diving into footwear with their first leather derby for SS27, Tarvas has a new model that’s coming home with me, Khakis and Reebok have another shoe in the works that’s coming out next year, Corridor convinced Mephisto to bring back an old boot model that’s going to hit for fall, and Colin Meredith has a slip-on derby with Paracia in a nice brown leather that I might need as well.
WHERE IS STYLE GOING NEXT
If you go outside long enough you’ll start to see patterns. There were a lot of clothes to see but there were specific styles that kept popping back up. Now, I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have access to showrooms that tells me what styles of clothing is going to be popular next year.
Brands like Niceness and Metalwood are doing their own reversible tees for the next summer. It’s something I’ve been noticing more of recently from other brands as well, mostly done in primary colors, so you can really great creative once you start folding the hem or sleeves.
Flip-flops are already everywhere, but I saw them even more across different showrooms and the runway. As temperature continues to rise, we can expect these to be in fashion for a very long time.
Big buttons are starting to show up on jackets and shirting more — something I’ve been really wanting to see for a white now, specifically through a more menswear perspective.
SHOWROOMS OF THE WEEK
The best showroom was the one that had air conditioning. Jokes aside, more and more showrooms are starting to pop-up, which is making it impossible to visit all of them. If we spoke and I missed yours, I do apologise, the schedule was insanely hectic and I ended up not having the time to visit a lot of brands I’m usually hyped to see.
The one showroom stood out to me the most was by far was the one from Hender Scheme. Tucked away from the main streets in the back of an alley was an entryway covered with bamboo and other foliage that revealed a room that felt oddly familiar — they nailed to find a space that encapsulated their brand identity that presented itself as one of their many stores back home in Japan.
Hender Scheme also hosted a party celebrating their collaboration with Artek. Stools and tables were wrapped in Hender Scheme’s signature vegetable-tanned leather that displayed different tanning stages. They also let you keep the wine glasses you got from the party; each came with its own custom leather holder made by Hender Scheme that could be worn around your neck. Absolutely incredible stuff.
My obsession with Hender Scheme runs deep, and it’s about to become even deeper after this trip. I can go on and explain myself, but it’s better just to read my past letter on why I’m obsessed with the brand here.
POLYPLOID
Tucked away upstairs of the same showroom is Berlin-based Polyploid. Hender Scheme helps with distribution of the brand, so they share a showroom together.
Polyploid was definitely one of the stronger brands I saw this week, bringing a selection of finely executed garments in relaxed cuts with great attention to detail. I could talk about the high-quality fabrics, but it’s something that you should experience on your own if you can. I think it’s safe to say that this is a brand that can easily fit into the realm of that elite level menswear that we all strive for.
Similar to Hender Scheme’s showroom, Polyploid managed to capture its identity perfectly, even though it was in the same showroom — it’s not just about showing clothes on a rack, it’s about the full experience that sets a specific tone and aesthetic for the clothes, and you do that by curating the space that the clothes are in.
Polyploid isn’t a brand you should be sleeping on, especially if you’re someone who tends to lean towards brands like MAN-TLE and Casey Casey because of their fabrics selection. Their development is definitely on that same level, which after a while, makes you realize what high-level clothing should feel like.
A NEW OBSESSION
During the week a couple of my friends took me to the Gathering showroom. I’ve never heard of the brand before, but I was instantly hooked the moment I saw what they had to offer.
The button game here is crazy — it’s a detail that is not skipped at Gathering. On top of that you also have another exceptional fabric selection from Asia and Africa, but most importantly, the fits of the garments is what did it for me.
Definitely worth keeping your tabs on this one, because I know I will be.
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KEY RUNWAY MOMENTS
Even though my schedule made me miss a couple of shows — specifically the Auralee presentation which I’m extremely bummed about — I still ended up at about 8 shows in just 2 days. The most I’ve been to yet.
Thank you to everyone who invited me, it was a lot of fun. Experiencing clothing at this level is definitely interesting because it shows you a different perspective to the ideas that are at the base of these collections.
Almost all of these shows had incredible music to go along with the clothes that made the viewing experience that much better.
But the presentation that stole the show for me was Camiel Fortgens SS27. A lot of these shows are set in these amazing, grand venues, historic buildings, but sometimes keeping it simple and real makes the clothing hit that much harder.
For SS27, Camiel Fortgens took over Bigo Bistro, where viewers got to sit around the tables outside while models stood by the bar before hitting the streets to showcase the new collection. After attending so many shows in such a short amount of time, this one just felt more authentic to real life, and that made me enjoy the clothes that much more. It was also the last show I saw that week, so it was a nice way to end it all.
Loved the big hair, many models would come with their own soundtrack that would be blaring from a speaker in their pocket or a phone in their hand.
👀 mephistos and another aspect derbys
Literally had all the same favorites this week. Did you get over to Jan Jan Van Essche? Per usual, his showroom had a very on brand hand crafted funk and the garms were primo. Nice seeing you out there