This week Whitewall is in Paris for Men’s Fashion Week. Presenting their new designs for Fall/Winter 2023, here we’re looking at the latest from Louis Vuitton, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, and more.
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
Louis Vuitton’s runway show for its latest men’s collection began with a circumstance through which we can all connect—growing up. After a sentimental video by Michel and Olivier Gondry, the singer Rosalía activated the stage within the Cour Carrée du Louvre, emerging from behind a yellow car as the lights came up on a set also conceived by the Gondry brothers. Constructed in remembrance of their childhood home, its colorful walls and furniture made a domestic maze in which models weaved around, some stopping to scribble on the walls while others sat down. The collection was built on imaginings of quintessential “manly” shapes, expanding on a young man’s view of paternal masculinity with a charmingly childish naivete. Boxy suiting and spacious silhouettes reminiscent of the 1990s were updated in form—like a jacket that folded down to reveal another jacket or a suit that appeared to be made entirely from notebook paper—and prints and patterns, which included all-over digitalized graphic images, a distressed striped motif, grid-like plaids, and the vibrant faces of the artist Colm Dillane.
Courtesy of Issey Miyake.
After a mesmerizing introduction of light and movement by the visual and performing arts company Adrien M & Claire B, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake’s collection “Upon A Simplex” took to the runway at the Palais de Tokyo. Examining how the simplest forms of geometry can come together to create something complex, the maison shared a suite of designs in bold solid colors and geometric motifs, with a foundation of simplicity underscored by careful details in form and fabrications. Constructed with geometry in mind were styles like the Triangular Grid series (a triangle print based on the work of the philosopher and architect R. Buckminster Fuller), the Unfold garments, which offer a convertible approach that creates multiple ways of wearing through overlapping rectangular panels, and the pleated Skew Grid pieces—an illusory print black and white applied to a long, boxy coat, a pair of swinging trousers, and a vest. Once the entire collection had its moment, the movement of Adrien M & Claire B took center stage again, leaving the audience in awe even after the encompassing performance came to a close.
Courtesy of OWENSCORP.
Bursting with futurism and coyly reconceptualized inspirations, as usual, the designer Rick Owens introduced a collection of garments that were born from a winter escape in Egypt and the film The Ten Commandments playing on repeat—a merging of fantasy and reality. Volume was a key facet of the collection seen on billowing capes and cloaks, skirts, floor-grazing pants hems, and the house’s beloved architectural shoulders, which returned with a Victorian twist. Colors were dark and brooding and seen on distressed denim and industrial-looking nylon, as well as luxurious fabrications like embroidered fur, leather, satin, and cowhide with the hair left intact. Styled with slicked-back hair and eye makeup with a Sci-Fi appeal, standout looks included a glossy high-shouldered jacket with trousers in a matching shade of deep brown, a hybrid cape and skirt ensemble with tall leather boots, and a curious silhouette with a ballooning effect that encompassed the wearer’s torso, styled with a calf-length black skirt and boots.
Courtesy of Wales Bonner.
Wales Bonner’s newest debuts, titled “Twilight Reverie,” offers a sort of ode to the city of Paris and the montage of creative characters that inhabit the beloved city. Infused with a preppy attitude, the season’s designs (including looks for men’s and womenswear) encompassed loose and easygoing silhouettes with options for daywear and elevated occasions alike in a palette of warm retro hues. There were classics like collared knits and striped sweaters, tweed overcoats and letterman jackets, as well as more unsuspecting styles like long tunics with silky cowl necks and suiting that featured remixed ideals—like a tuxedo with long shorts and a jacket with an asymmetric collar and fasten. The garments were full of poetics and references of cultural significance, nodding to things like the First Congress of Black Artists and Writers and the Maharaja and Maharani of Indore. A highlight of the season was the collaboration with the British artist Lubaina Himid, whose figurative works appeared on several garments.
Courtesy of Sean Suen.
Inspired by the endless, uncompromising mountains of Daliang, “Valley Echo” is Sean Suen’s tribute to the primal essence of nature in a time of city living and modern society. Informed by myths of the Yi people of Daliang (who are fabled to have come from the snow), the locale’s traditional culture acted as building blocks for the brand’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, finding meaning in everything from materials (including winter fabrics like leather and wool) and silhouette to color—the choice of mostly black offered the best contrast when considering the snowy geography. Expanding upon traditional garb were silhouettes like boxy-shouldered capes, shawls with long fringes, long garments that wrapped like robes, and archetypal suiting altered with traditional Chinese fastens replacing buttons and tight wraps cinching the waist. Looks we loved included a layered look featuring silky orange garments poking out from underneath a long trench coat with a belted waist, styled with a folded brim hat, a black leather robe, and a wide-shouldered cape updated with details from a classic shirt jacket, and a leather suit pairing styled with a fringed cape and matching black dress shoe, which featured tiny white daisy embellishments.
Courtesy of EGONLAB.
Titled “Parasomnia,” EGONLAB’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection embraced the idea that we must define our own relationship with reality—will it limit us, or will we let our dreams flourish and take over? A melding of 1990s grunge and school uniforms was at the base of looks that featured oversized tailoring, slouchy slip dresses, monogrammed sweaters, and leather combat boots. Along with the idea of a waking dream came bright colors and prints like stripes, argyles, florals, and plaids, in pink, red, gold, and emerald. Looks that stayed on our minds included a pair of garments in a blurred orange flower print, including a button-up shirt with a ruffled hem and a dress with a plunging neckline, a large trench with a built-in striped scarf paired with brown denim and a plushy sweater, and a boxy blazer in hot pink styled with lace-up leather bike shorts, matching knee-high boots, and a skinny knit scarf tossed around the neck.
