Unforgettable moments at Paris Men’s Fashion Week

Paris Menswear Fashion Week Spring 2024 was one of the most fruitful in the event’s history, with one of the most exciting and innovative trends in modern fashion being the long fashion shows that continue to strengthen men’s collections.

The dozens of collections that debuted at Italy’s PT Uomo Spring 2024 menswear show two weeks ago and continued at Milan Men’s Fashion Week showcased a consistent design philosophy.

In recent years, the blurred boundaries between men’s and women’s fashion have been briefly put on hold with collections seeking to reintroduce male archetypes in dress and workwear. Here are some highlights from the event week.

Pharrell Williams’ first show as director of the Louis Vuitton menswear line will go down not as a fashion show, but as one with a wealth of resources and a celebrity list.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, Zendaya, Kim Kardashian, Lenny Kravitz, Jared Leto, Naomi Campbell, The Willow Brothers, Jaden Smith, Kylie Roland, Maluma and more lined the runway. It is built on one of the oldest bridges in Paris.

A popular producer and hip-hop musician, Williams has always had an interest in fashion and is involved in many collaborations in the industry. However, in the past, a famous person was appointed as a designer – in 2011. In the scandalous partnership between Lindsay Lohan and Ungaro in 2009 – the collaboration turned out to be disappointing on both sides.

Will Williams’ fate be the same? It’s too early to tell, but aside from certain themes, there’s no major change in the set, which ranges from clothes from famous fashion houses, nods to the world of hip-hop, and male archaeologists from other shows.

British designer Wells Bonner teamed up with renowned jewelers Anderson & Sheppard to cleverly combine sporty elements with tailored clothing to bring excitement to Paris next year’s upcoming Olympic Games in the city.

Two of today’s famous athletes, Yomif Kejelcha, the Ethiopian world champion, and Tamrat Tola, who set a new marathon record of 2:05:35 hours last year and won the gold, walked the track.

Hello masculine archetype

In the menswear fashion shows in Milan, the presence of masculine archetypes and workwear was also found in Paris, where ties associated with fishermen and cowboys, workwear, denim pants and coats resurfaced.

A few years after the masculine and non-binary discourse sought to blur the boundaries between male and female fashion, the Parisian fashion industry seeks to define and highlight these boundaries.

This is not an ideal statement, but rather an attempt to establish strictness on clothing lines. These experiments were also highlighted on the catwalk in overalls from brands such as Etudes and Kenzo, or the white overalls worn by the artist Ludovic Nkot.

Other examples include the presence of fisherman dresses, which have different interpretations, such as the large view by Israeli designer Hed Meiner, the minimal design by Etudes and the neon colors of Givenchy.

The event looked like an unofficial hip-hop festival, featuring a number of famous names on the runway and in the front row. Musician himself, Pharrell Williams managed to collect an impressive list of celebrities with two couples of the music world – Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Rihanna and ASAP Rocky.

The musician has exhibited at the Li-Ning fashion brand Offset, and has also appeared at the KEZNO, Dior and Louis Vuitton shows.

Fashion designer Jonathan Anderson never ceases to amaze by creating new fashion statements. After his stunning show at Milan Fashion Week, he once again took Paris by storm with an artistic collection filled with thoughts and questions about male beauty.

The waist line at the center of the collection – was becoming higher and narrower. Anderson achieves this by using body-hugging, cropped jackets and a series of high-waisted, wide-leg trousers.

Walter van Beirendon’s fashion show marked the skeleton parade brought to life for the Belgian designer’s new collection, as the models were covered with white skeletons in nylon bags that looked like bodies headed for the grave.

For a moment, it felt like All Saints’ Eve or a “Day of the Dead” parade in Mexico. In an interview with fashion website Hypebeast, the designer revealed that the collection was inspired by the story of the lost city of Daulito in Mexico, where English explorer Alfred Isaac Middleton was lost during his visit in the late 19th century.

Because little is known about Middleton’s lost territory, van Berendonk’s research involves creating artificial intelligence images to imagine what the area might look like. The result: a collection that seeks to explore a simple question, what is real and what is not?

Egonlab designers Florentin Glemarek and Kevin Nompeks put feminine silhouettes, exposed male bodies, provocative fur collars, corsets and low-rise pants at the forefront of the collection.

The duo created a powerful and sensual collection that exudes a strong and masculine aesthetic, despite featuring many feminine elements. “We consider fashion to be an art in itself, so we want to take it a step to a new level of art and culture,” Nompex explained in an interview with Vogue.

“We really wanted to present a show that helped us a lot to our community and to bring a little freshness to a world that is now a little gray. We always think of our clothes as a tool of expression and that is about nudity and breaking the dress code, but without being rude,” he added.

Designer Kim Jones used the Paris event to celebrate five years as Dior menswear designer in one of the week’s most spectacular shows. Models walked from the floor to the runway like in a theater and made the show one of the most viral on social media.

The geometric design of Cannage, which has been associated with Dior since 1947 and even carries the name of the fashion house’s perfume, was highlighted during the presentation.

It was seen in colorful cardigans paired with pantsuits that reached the ankle line, pointed sandals, long coats with long mesh collars and revealing body-hugging dresses.

The event also had several moments that highlighted Israel’s fashion industry. Fashion designer Heid Meiner continued to explore the male image in a beautiful collection featuring models in military overalls and open cotton shirts with high collars.

Also in Paris designer Or Yair Biton of HIGHLIGHT STUDIO designer Or Biton has left his mark on the international fashion scene in recent years and presented a coordinated collection at the events of the week.