With Paris Men’s Fashion Week at a close, we’re looking back at the Fall/Winter 2023 collections debuted by Maison Marigela, Marine Serre, Bode, and more.
Courtesy of Maison Margiela.
Introducing its Co-Ed collection for 2023, Maison Margiela continued the tale of protagonists Count and Hen (which the house introduced in its 2022 Artisanal collection) in an exploration of clothing that is contemporary and consciously rebellious. Taking place in the 16th Arrondissement, the sartorial story expands upon the characters and the wardrobe outlined in the recent Artisanal collection, exploring some of its shapes and concepts in garb for the everyday. Captured in motion, the designs took on a remixed appearance where nothing quite fit into the boxes that typically exist in categories of clothing and dress. We saw a mingling of textures and colors, exciting silhouettes that warranted a second glimpse (if only to work out the “how” and “why” of their form), and details given fresh shape and purpose to create entirely new garments—like backward shirt collars and fishnet stockings worn on top of shorts with exposed pockets.
Courtesy of Marine Serre.
At the Grande Halle de La Villette, we saw Marine Serre introduce Fall/Winter 2023 designs for men and women, made while considering the circumstances of the climate disaster in which we find ourselves. While the house outfitted the venue with a trio of menacing towers made from abandoned clothing, they maintained an optimistic stance on the situation (there are some of us courageous enough to make a change), choosing to utilize the power they have in steps towards responsible fashion. The collection featured five suites of designs, each of which employed a different means of recycling, upcycling, or repurposing existing materials. One grouping of pieces is a series of patchwork designs made from colorful deadstock fabrics (like a wrapping dress and skirt styled over a full bodysuit in the house’s signature crescent moon print). Another encompassed a suite of motocross-inspired looks, which utilized materials like recycled fishing nets, recovered denim, and household linens and leather.
Courtesy of Bode.
Emily Adams Bode Aujla’s label Bode introduced its Fall/Winter 2023 menswear collection in tandem with the brand’s first-ever series of dedicated womenswear. Titling the collection “The Crane Estate,” (in reference to the designer’s mother and aunts), the audience was captivated from the start when the lights came up to reveal a backyard setting looking in on a tall white house with ivy climbing its sides. The looks that unfolded imbued a sense of nostalgia through a warm color palette and nods to retro styles, while the collection’s widespread references and styles kept the looks fresh and unexpected. Each emerging from the house to a soundtrack of soft piano music, we saw fringed leather jackets and embroidered shirts with a cowboy flair, flapper dresses with fringes and pompoms, graphic sweaters with animals, silken ascots tied at the neck, and velvet vests decorated with buttons. The show came to a close with a charming bridal look featuring ivory embroidery, a peter pan collar, and an airy veil attached to the head with a bough of acrylic flowers.
Courtesy of Fumito Ganryu.
Fumito Ganryu’s collection “to C” aimed to uphold the topmost quality and a neutral perspective for the Fall/Winter 2023 season, veering away from superficial tactics and branding of a capitalist moment. Captured in a series of images set in an office setting with an uneasy feeling that ensured intrigue, the garments were straightforward and wearable, imagined sans prints and without excessive styling and details. The collection included luxurious leisure wear, sleek and practical outerwear with exciting silhouettes (like a puffer that looked like a blanket wrapped around the shoulders), comfortable knits, and suiting and other pieces with a convertible attitude, suggesting that they could either be styled for the office or a night out or dressed down for casual day-to-day happenings.
Courtesy of AMIRI.
The CEO and Creative Director of AMIRI, Mike Amiri, conceived the house’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection as though it were a soundtrack of his memories and experiences. Recalling the 1990s in New York, the methodology of working in a recording studio (jamming to uncover new ways of playing or new melodies) was the gaze through which the garments themselves were formed, combining known sartorial methods and techniques with notions of stage, studio, and even skate wear. Setting the mood live at the presentation, DJ Premier and The Badder Band transported audience members to the time of Amiri’s creative inspiration through an original composition, shedding light on the designer’s process of linking archival music cuts to the memories at hand. Walking the runway were looks indicative of their points of origin (cargo pants, short sleeve shirts layered over long-sleeved ones, and slouchy-cut suiting), though they were offered a high-fashion update through juxtaposing textures and detailed—like a psychedelic checkerboard, bleach-washed tie-dye, monogram motifs, and a wavy abstract pattern of colorful stripes and sections.
Courtesy of White Mountaineering.
White Mountaineering’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection “After All” came about after its designer Yosuke Aizawa experienced a pandemic moment spent away from the city of Tokyo, falling in love with the mountains. The landscape’s natural colors directly informed those found in the collection, suggesting a brooding, moody winter scene with tree and olive greens, deep red, black, and dark neutrals. Technically formulated for outdoor conditions, the looks we saw upheld the wearable practicality required of outdoor gear (like insulated fabrications, useful pockets, and sensible, moveable silhouettes) but offered a contemporary cool that suggested they were crafted with much thought and quality. Some of our favorite looks included a sleek black windbreaker with asymmetric zippers and pockets on the front, styled with cuffed tuxedo pants and sneakers; an ochre duster layered under a striped wool vest and worn with trousers and leather hiking boots; and a pair of matching pants and a shirt jacket in dark gray wool, which could be suitable for outdoor adventures or indoor affairs.
