Paris // Men's Fashion Week

Paris is burning, blazes of menswear being show in Paris Men's Fashion week and obviously I have to make aware what I loved and who were my highlights! Prepare yourself because there's a lot coming, trust me! 

//Viktor & Rolf// 

   

Starting with Viktor and Rolf and their collection, I think it was a great mix of casual and smart clothes. In terms of a colour pallette there wasn't really one but it still worked together, my favourite pieces have to be the jumper/jackets with the side zips and the font printed pieces. I think their collection is really interesting in terms of looking at pattern on trousers too and who doesn't love a pinstripe!

//Raf Simons// 

  

Raf Simons collection had a lot of different elements to it and was similar to a JW Anderson show having men in womenswear, not really sure how I feel about this possibly if im unsure if its more JW's signiture or definitely becoming a trend. Aside from that Raf had prints which I thought were great, they had colour and grabbed your attention, looking stylish and appealing to a group of peole in my opinion. 

//Balmain//

  

Honestly I'd have to say Balmain is one of my favourite collections from Paris, mainly because of simplistic yet chic it is, it has various elements to it and pieces from jackets to jumpsuits. I'd probably question some material choices being an SS collection but again it all worked really well together, I'd say my favourite and most desired collection (if only). It has so many elements to it through denim and leather, blacks and blues and still manages to just be effortless cool, also really nicely shot for their lookbook too! 

//Issey Miyake// 

 

Colour and pattern were brilliant at Issey Miyake, there was so much to choose from I really did struggle trying to find images I liked and wanted to show! I think the pink abstract patterns worked really well, they look great and stand out from a lot of the darker collections shown. I love the blue of the second image I'm slightly disappointed there was only one look really in that colour and the thid image of multi colours is just something else, all making for a really strong collection. 

//Dries Van Noten// 

Florals for SS is generally something people tend to avoid, it's overdone boring and predictable but Dries Van Noten basically did the best version of florals I'd seen in Paris. It wasn't bring and in your face, working with lots of greens and browns generally it was a lot darker than you'd expect florals to be. I think this is another strong point of the collection, alongside the embroidary and styling of looks too. Another favourite look has to be the second look, that yellow jacket is perfect it breaks up the green and still looks great and could work with other parts of other looks perfectly. 

//Commes Des Garçons//

Commes used majority black in their collection which I've said I hate so much for SS, but they weren't they only people to use black either. I'm slightly confused because these three looks burst with colour, stand out so much more and its a shame there isn't maybe two or three more looks like this. Possibly it highlights how special these are but I love them, they're perfect for an SS collection, they stand out, they're interesting and intriguing. 

//John Galliano// 

 

Colour is always a major love in a collection especially if you use yellow so Galliano was a really interesting collection to me. I think there could have been more of a balance between the three primary colours but good to see them being used. I see this as almost going back to primary colours, back to basic kind of thing and it looks great, the styling of the looks really pulls them all together. Like Balmain I think we've got another effortlessly cool collection. 

//Lanvin// 

Lanvin surprised me because it was a majorly smarter collection which usually I'd roll my eyes at and dismiss. Uses of colour really have impressed, by having a collection which had whites and some darker colours but also having this pale blue and off toned down red it works well, it's fancy and chic. This red white and blue I've picked all shows how they look together and I think they look like pieces which would be so easily interchanged and would be able to still remain as strong together. 

//Paul Smith//

  

Yet another colour I love for menswear besides yellow is pink, mainly just because its so fun! Don't think it's used enough I guess probably because most men refuse pink and won't wear it. Paul Smith's collection to me had varying levels and intesitiies of pink which was brilliant! Varying from pale to neon I love the idea of the it and the spectrum, I also haven't been a fan of neon I've seen it done and it's not interesting and I think Paul Smith has just broken that hate for me.

Givenchy also really shined, possibly not my favourite Givenchy collection but I thought they had an interesting concept, pattern and colour scheme and my thoughts are purely personal, it's still an amazing collection. Haider Ackerman was another collection that really stood out amongst the crowd and I liked, I thought there was a great use of layering and some really interesting materials and pieces really delivering a Hugh Hef suave appeal. 

Alexander Wang was another collection which contained black and yet I loved, think there was a great monochrome feel but also with the mix of white and cream. I loved Wang's uses of material and also thought the collection had strong accessories too. Junya Watanabe gave me a hiking/fishing theme so used some typical darker browns, greens and greys but then also mixed it up by using reds, oranges and even pinks into the mix and it really worked having a strong transition of colour through out.

I thought Paris had some amazing menswear, Balmain was most likely my strongest favourite out of it all mainly because I'd wear it all! Dries Van Noten and Paul Smith totally were second and third favourites all three of these brands really bringing something different and really appealing and interesting me!