Paris – The man wants to be dressed up and sexy, but not messy in his formal wear: men’s fashion designers play with the suit, a star part of the collections, fluid, colorful or modified sizes.
Flawless black suits in a turtleneck, at the opening of the parade, gave Givenchy masculine allure on Wednesday. Luxury streetwear star, the French house’s American artistic director Matthew Williams, has made a dressier collection for Fall-Winter 2023. His streetwear looks with bermuda shorts or hoodies are enhanced by coats of long and well cut.
A long, flowing silhouette appeared on the Saint Laurent fashion show
Tuesday evening, with the prevailing black and long, baggy coats. Broad shoulders are balanced by a slim waist, while shape and length are revised. Soft fabrics, such as mohair, cashmere, satin and velvet, are contrasted with hard textured materials.
“Saint Laurent, Gucci, Givenchy work almost better for men than for women. (…) These brands want to take market share in the formal part, because it’s coming back strongly,” Alice Feillard, supply director, told AFP. and shopping for men at Galeries Lafayette, before the start of Fashion Week.
Comfort in overalls
Anthony Alvarez, designer of the new French brand Bluemarble, known for his relaxed and festive aesthetic, took his collection “between the carnival of New Orleans and the carnival of Venice” with the energy and cultural diversity of the former and the mystery of the latter . .
The suit finds its place in this swirl of colors, ties, rainbows, sequins, chapkas or overcoats with faux fur. “There are more suits, the tailoring represents the European know-how that I revisited with wide cuts” of American inspiration, the designer explains to AFP. A mauve-gray jacket is worn over a long-striped green blouse and matching flame-embroidered trousers.
Frenchman Pierre-Francois Valette, from Studio Vallettawhich presents its collection as part of the Sphere project that promotes emerging creation, claims suits “that have the comfort of tracksuits”, on which “colours, patterns, details and volumes emerge in unexpected ways”.
This season, his suit, “is a tribute to Françoise Sagan and the elegant, relaxed, even disillusioned dress of this festive bourgeoisie,” he told AFP. “There is a lot of wool, you work with the materials. With the price explosion, we used a lot of fabric that we had in stock or purchased recycled fabric,” he underlines.
“Men want to be sexier now.”
After a stint at Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant, where he was responsible for the women’s collections, he does men’s fashion for his studio, but everything is “mixed” and adapted to the female morphology, he says.
“Men want to be sexier now. My jackets are too short, over the back. At first, it shocked people a bit. But it’s done to please, to please myself, to please others,” says Pierre -François Valette. “Men are looking for a new attitude, they want to get away from sportswear. But, at the same time, they don’t want to have a suit that clutters them,” he adds.
British designer Bianca Saunders brings poetic and playful innovation to her formal pieces. His architectural suit jackets are constructed with a rolled shoulder, while voluminous wool overcoats feature asymmetrical gathered pleats at the chest. (AFP)