Menswear shows: budding talents in Paris

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Jun 23, 2014

This Wednesday, the French capital will take over hosting duties for the menswear season. Following fresh, new collections presented in London and Milan, it seems that Paris may also have some new ideas to offer. Up-and-comers will be making appearances next to key figures at brands like Valentino, Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten, KRISVANASSCHE, Lanvin and Paul Smith, presentations running until Sunday.

Wednesday will be a day for new faces including the Russian sensation Gosha Rubchinskiy, who is organizing his first show European presentation to date. The Moscow-based skateboarding fan is supported by the group Comme des Garçons and is already stocked by Liberty, DSM, Colette, The Broken Arm and Oki-Ni. He will be followed by Christophe Lemaire’s first full-blown menswear show, a new chapter beginning for his eponymous brand. Relaunched last season, Y/Project’s young new creative director, the Beligia Glenn Martens, will present his second collection. In the evening, Julien David, the 2012 winner of the Andam grand prize, will present a few pieces from his first capsule for Quiksilver.

On Thursday, June 26, the mischievous Andrea Crews will celebrate becoming part of the official menswear schedule. He will enjoy an opportune slot between Rick Ownes and Louis Vuitton that will coincide with the opening of his new arty space on rue de Turenne (3rd arrondissement). The same day, Paris will be see unofficial presentations of menswear from Alexander Wang (previewed in New York) and Christopher Kane.

The next day (Friday, June 27), the New York street and luxury label Public School - last winter’s recipient of a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award - will put on a show for the international press. At the same time, as part of the official calendar, there will also be Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, who has embraced “opulent” streetwear.

Halfway between the streets and design, Études Studio will appear as part of the official menswear calendar on Saturday. The young French menswear label is an Andam Fashion Award finalist - the prize’s winner to be determined on July 3. The previous winner, Ami Alexandre Mattiussi, will finish up the day, which will be packed with talents from afar including Sacai, Songzio, Wooyoungmi and Miharayasuhiro, all sharing the bill with Kenzo and Hermès. Meanwhile, the Japanese designer Christian Dada, who’s show last October in Tokyo ended with a performance by the band Kiss, will present for the first time in his career at 2pm in a garage in the sixteenth arrondissement.

Sunday will keep the show moving with Officine Generale and Umit Benan’s second shows in Paris. That’s before discovering the kind of story to be told this season by Thom Browne and his associate Stephen Jones, who will once again design the hats for Browne’s show/performance. Things will continue along with the Hedi Slimane’s teenage models for Saint Laurent, the rock n’ roll highlight of this summer’s Parisian schedule.