Caroline Paris is in the French city of love for Paris Men's Fashion Week. 

This week in Paris, designers exhibited the Spring/Summer 2017 collections. I travelled to Paris over the weekend and watched a few of the shows and spent some time backstage watching the preparations. The atmosphere is a lot more low-key than the women’s shows and the attendance is largely male.

The JULIUS collection stuck to muted colours. Photo: JULIUSThe JULIUS collection stuck to muted colours. Photo: JULIUS

Whilst the most renowned fashion week events are the Ready-to-Wear women’s events, the men’s events deserve a mention all of their own. This year has been a bit of an upheaval year for all fashion weeks and there has been talk of possibly eliminating the Men’s Fashion Week events, one of the reasons being that the yearly fashion calendar has become too packed.

The general talk is now about possibly incorporating the males collections into the female shows. It remains to be seen whether or not that will happen. However, it is becoming increasingly common for designers to include women’s pre-collections into the men’s shows and to include some men’s fashion in the women’s so it seems like the progression towards showcasing both simultaneously has already started .

At JULIUS, the clothes were quite different to Kenzo - a more minimalistic and clean collection with quite a neutral palette based on blacks, whites, and nudes. Only menswear designs were presented in this show. There were lots of loose flowing lines and clothes that felt so comfortable that felt like a cross between streetwear, sportswear and loungewear. This is the type of styling that seems effortless but infact isn’t. Wrapover-style jackets, slogan t-shirts, baggy pants and leather were all members of the collection. The 90s vibe was present here too but in a different less nightlife-focused manner. It was more about that streetwise, sports-influenced look. Different pieces were layered over each other creating a styled look that is very popular right now. There was also quite a feeling of length - long tops and t-shirts were layered under shorter ones. Many of the models had tattoos which were worked into the presentation.

Henrik Vibskov intrigued me from the moment the invite first arrived in my inbox. The title of the show was Salmi Kitchen and my first thought was to wonder what place Salami has in a world that is increasingly turning toward vegetarian and vegan preferences. The turnout for this show was high and the mood was definitely exuberant. The catwalk was decorated with low hanging fake salamis as seen in a butcher shop - these featured in many a selfie photograph.

Henrik has always been an experimental designer and in this collection it seems that he wanted to highlight the contract between trending, ethical decisions like refraining from meat and simple raw gluttonous appetites. The Asian culture was also a strong source of inspiration for the collection. Asian models walked the catwalk and even the style of clothes reminded one of martial art pieces.

There were also Asian symbols present within the prints. The general style was loose fitting with voluminous outerwear pieces cut to fit in an oversized, loose silhouette. Cropped loose jackets found their place next to tailored long coats and salmi prints cropped into various looks. A very interesting collection.

Check out Caroline Paris' fashion blog at www.carolinefashionstyling.com

 

Loose-fitting styles were all the rage. Photo: Caroline ParisLoose-fitting styles were all the rage. Photo: Caroline Paris

Part loungewear, part sportswear - it's JULIUS' 2017 collection. Photo: JULIUSPart loungewear, part sportswear - it's JULIUS' 2017 collection. Photo: JULIUS

 

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