Once Upon a Time in Paris – Style

Men’s Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2024 has ended in Paris. The debut of Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton, the fifth anniversary of Kim Jones in Dior Men, new sensuality from Dries Van Noten, Loewe, Hermes. The main thing about the shows is in our material.

A new beginning: Pharrell Williams’ first show for Louis Vuitton

The most anticipated debut of the year and show of the week took place on the very first day of the Parisian fashion shows: Louis Vuitton gathered guests on the embankment near the Musée d’Orsay. Here, cruise ships were waiting for us, which took everyone to one of the main and oldest bridges in the city, Pont Neuf, a stone’s throw from the headquarters of Louis Vuitton. For one evening, this bridge turned into a huge golden podium in the signature check of the house.

Farrell is more known to the world as the greatest composer and musician than designer (to be fair, his collaborations with Chanel, Adidas and Moncler always sold out in the first days of sales). His new mission is the one with an asterisk. In fact, Williams will have to take the place of his friend Virgil Abloh, who made a cult label out of the male direction of Louis Vuitton. Farrell dedicated his debut collection to his friend and bet on the scale of production – all those present noted the level of sound at the show, which was comparable to music festivals (Williams recorded several new tracks especially for the show).

In his collection called LoVers, the main focus is on comfortable and practical things: suits with shorts, denim, sweatpants, bombers, white t-shirts and, of course, accessories. Red Louis Vuitton bags in calfskin and recognizable from afar Speedy and Keepall in bright and classic basic shades. Several friends walked the runway at Williams: designer Stefano Pilati, rapper Pusha T and top models Liya Kebede and Anna Ivers – a kind of sign that big brands are finally keeping up with the times, where design ideas do not have a strict division into male and feminine. After the show, the celebration continued with a massive concert where Farrell sang live with Jay-Z, setting the bar for fashion events so high that everyone is left wondering what his next show will be.

Anniversary of Kim Jones in Dior

Kim Jones has been writing a new history of Dior menswear for five years now. He decided to celebrate his anniversary with a large-scale show, where the models were hidden under the catwalk and, thanks to the platforms, either appeared or disappeared in front of the audience. The collection was inspired by the legacy of the creative directors of the women’s direction of the house – Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan and Gianfranco Ferre. It focuses on tweed, crystal-embroidered shirts, neon polo shirts and Mitzah’s signature leopard print (named after Christian Dior’s muse and collaborator Mitza Brekar). The season’s accessories include CD logo loafers, XS-sized Saddle bags and hats in the brightest colors, embellished with knitted flowers.

More skin

Fashion Week fell on extreme heat in Paris, invariably associated with climate change in the world. It was these new conditions that prompted Veronik Nishanyan, creative director of the Hermes men’s direction, to the idea that short shorts should be an indispensable part of a formal men’s wardrobe. She suggests wearing them with formal shirts or sleeveless T-shirts.

Dries Van Noten presented his vision for the perfect sequin shorts to pair with loose-fitting denim jackets or silk shirts. And Kim Jones for Dior Men and LVMH award winner Masayuki Ino for their Doublet brand, in turn, presented extra mini tweed shorts. Next summer, you can bare not only your legs, but also your arms, back, or the entire torso. So, Jonathan Anderson for Loewe and Louis Gabriel Nushi for LGN showed leather tops and jumpsuits with bare shoulders, Simon Port Jacquemus showed blazers with an open back.

winter in summer

Climate change is not only extreme heat in summer, but also possible frosts or cold springs. Summer collections go on sale in early spring, so more and more designers complement them with warm clothes. For example, Dries Van Noten opened the show in an abandoned lyceum near Parc Monceau with a caramel-colored trench coat, and then presented a whole series of cashmere coats and windbreakers for the cold summer. Chitose Abe for Sacai continues her collaboration with Carhartt and showed a selection of trench coats and parkas in beige and black in the gardens of the Pierre and Marie Curie Institute. The day before, her husband Yunishi Abe dedicated the entire collection to alpine skiing for his label Kolor. He presented on the podium an abundance of windbreakers with technical fastenings, overalls and knitted T-shirts with floral patterns, as on skiers’ sweaters.

Lidia Ageeva