Isaac Hindin Miller reports from the French capital on the latest in winter menswear fashions.
Lanvin
If there was one thing that other designers could learn from the house of Lanvin, it'd be that nothing keeps a roomful of jaded show-goers happy like hot coffee and sweet treats. It sounds simple, but a little goes a long way.
Couple that with soft, carpeted floors, smiling
waiters in giant bow ties and Burt Bacharach hits piping gently from the speakers, and Messieurs Elbaz and Ossendrijver just won themselves the best hosts of the week award.
The clothes, too, were worthy of decoration. With the final day of the menswear shows upon us, it's now safe to call autumn 2011 the season of the Oxford bag, and Lanvin's were served up over dainty tassel loafers, with trim double breasted jackets above.
Easy luxury is at the heart of a Lanvin collection - a cashmere turtleneck poking out from beneath a shirt collar, or a flowing silk suit - but there was something buttoned up, almost stern, in a knee-length coat tied tightly at the waist with rope, or a suit jacket fastened just that bit too snug.
The more feminine elements of the collection - a maroon silk blazer with rich aubergine pants, or a loungey suit in mossy green jersey - were buoyed with park ranger hats and leather hiking boots. Fancy clothes be damned, function can't always follow form.
"Where there is tension, there is energy," declared Lanvin menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver after the show, "and this collection was really about that tension. A classic loafer and then an extreme hiking boot, or luxury tailoring mixed with sportswear. We tried to find the hybrid."
Previous seasons have focussed on embellishments and fastidious details (the closest menswear might ever come to haute couture), but autumn 2011 was pared back, resulting in an accessibility that isn't always present in a Lanvin collection.
This was classic menswear for the modern man, though with that irrepressible Lanvin twist - hello fox tail, we see you peeking out from beneath a coat.
The designer himself put it best when asked about the hats: "They bring out the face. It's not just about the clothes themselves, but how they highlight the boy who wears them."
And that, right there, is the ultimate menswear hybrid.
Raf Simons
You know you've got yourself a hot ticket show when invited guests are being turned away at the door. So it was at Raf Simons' show, amidst reports that the designer's namesake company has cut ties with its licensee Futurenet, and cancelled all buying appointments in Paris. (According to sources, the collection is now being wholesaled out of Milan, though nobody has come forward to say how it will be financed, should it be put into production.) With rumours flying that this could be Simons' final show, the pressure to perform must have been huge. And boy oh boy did he deliver.
Named The Dead Prince College, a strong Ivy League thread ran through the entire collection. It focussed on a staple garment of the collegiate set: the duffel coat (like Simons, a Belgian original), here presented in a multitude of varieties. They included a purple neoprene version with patch pockets and hood, and a cropped and boy scout-esque jacket in classic tan wool.
Also reinvented was the college sweater - made over in neoprene - though still advertising the wearer's educational institution: The Dead Prince College. A tee shirt was remade in technicoloured striped wool, a definite highlight of an all-round incredible collection.
The look was clean, fresh, brilliant.
When it was over, a crowd of such magnitude stormed the backstage area that Simons, overwhelmed, began to cry. All were there to proclaim their support for the designer. But the question still remains: when the orders are written, will that support be enough?
Long live the prince!
Dior Homme
Can Kris Van Assche convince the Dior-wearing man to don Oxford bags? Or perhaps Oxford bags with matching-coloured turtle neck sweaters?
Held in the Paris Tennis Stadium miles away from the city, the Dior Homme catwalk was a parquet-floored hotel ballroom; fires ablaze in the far wall, crystal chandeliers twinkling from above.
But judging from the fashion on display - wide-brimmed hats pulled low over the face, capes, and black-on-black knee-length coats, the hotel in question may have been of the Californian variety - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
That Wild Wild West vibe was present throughout, none more so than in the models' tense walks - arms at the ready, all set to draw, aim and fire. And what better way to suggest blood after an entire show of black, grey and brown looks, than with a trio in red?
Nothing screams drama like a blast of colour. And drama is exactly what is needed right now. We can only hope the Dior-wearing man will be brave enough to try it out at home.
Kenzo
In the classic whodunnit scenario, a precisely selected group of individuals from vastly different backgrounds is thrown together in a pressure-cooker environment that gets really dicey when a crime is committed (usually murder). A typical story might include a wealthy city banker, a farmer, a playboy aristocrat, a conservative Scotsman, and, to keep everybody fed and watered, a butler. All of the above were present at the Kenzo show, which opened, as any good murder mystery should, with a piercing scream.
"I was inspired by British eccentrics," said Kenzo designer Antonio Marras before the show.
"Mixing them all together - Lords and countryside men, bankers and bad boys."
The result was a jumble of styles, piled atop one another in an odd, but altogether convincing fashion.
A double breasted business suit below a bowler hat was normal enough, except the trousers were covered by a full, pleated kilt.
The butler's morning suit had raw edges and a red tartan vest. City suits came paired with countrified fair isle or argyle hand knitted vests; and mismatched cardigans clashed with lurid trousers in acid colours inspired by 1960s B Grade film posters.
The collection's highlight was classic Kenzo - a series of tartan suits faintly overprinted with floral motifs.
As for whodunnit, one can only assume it was the butler. It's always the butler.
Kris Van Assche
Kris Van Assche's shows follow a very specific formula: they start with black; hint at a crisp white shirt; morph into charcoal suits and outerwear; splash out in a check or tartan and end in a subdued colour - sometimes navy, this time tanel (a tawny mix of tan and camel).
Held inside Palais de Tokyo, and with The Pixies blaring from the speakers, Kris Van Assche opened in signature form with a series of black-on-black looks, white shirt collars barely peeking out at the neck.
Last season saw the designer luxe up a plain white tee in pristine shirting, and this time around he took on sweaters, recreating them in enormous drop shoulder varieties from black yarn and wool tweed.
Things took a decidedly more formal turn with the suiting, but it was still a casual take - cargo pockets hung from the jackets, which were buttoned or even zipped up to the collar. Boys with messenger bags slung over their shoulders strode out wearing suit pants tucked into sturdy boots.
The effect was reminiscent of Jedis, or, oddly enough, skinny mid-90s rappers who always bought from the XXXL section.
A strange mix, perhaps, but both groups had the right idea - in freezing temperatures like those in Paris right now, a giant cloak or oversized sweater would go down an absolute treat.
* For more from Isaac, see isaaclikes.com