Golden Goose: This season’s expression, for A/W 2018, offered both elegance and practicality with classic knitwear, cool tailoring and blue-collar shirts. Opposites attracted, like sneakers and slouchy velvet tailoring, puffer jackets and crimson suiting. The look was functional with effortless personality, proportions and materials merging in a classic colour palette.
John Lobb: This season artistic director Paula Gerbase introduced a group of super lightweight walking shoes inspired by vintage styles found in the John Lobb bespoke archives. The brand’s classic Chelsea boot and signature Lopez loafer were updated with a feather light rubber sole. Elsewhere, Gerbase’s third women's collection for the bootmaker featured patent triple strap ankle boots and a reverse Jodphur boot.
Julien David: There was a touch of puppy love to the designer's A/W 2018 presentation. David eschewed a catwalk show and created a space populated with threadbare carpets, mahogany desks, leather gym equipment and old television sets playing Super Mario Kart. He also decked his models out in bemusing, lifelike dog masks. Mongrels aside, the eclectic space reflected David’s intention to showcase the diverse wardrobe of the modern man, one bursting with a lifetime of slowly acquired pieces, like silk fishing-wader-style trousers, shiny plastic macs, bold orange tracksuits and thick tweed overcoats. Playful pedigree style for next season!
Facetasm: Fabrics were wrinkled, lapels on suits turned upside down and archetypes slashed together. There was a playful innocence to Hiromichi Ochiai’s A/W 2018 collection. After graduating from Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College in 1999, Ochiai spent eight years at the textiles company Guildwork, working with Comme des Garçons, Zucca and UNDERCOVER. Such expertise was clear: clothes crafted to look as if they were losing control but with a sense of joie de vivre.
Haider Ackermann: This is a designer who knows his clientele – they love luxurious fabrics, a tapered leg, precision tailoring and a sensual yet androgynous flash of skin. For A/W 2018, Ackermann offered a collection rich in textures, like teal and khaki velvet, silk embroidered with trailing Oriental blooms and leather. The look was downtown dandy, and highlights included a suit jacket buttoned to the side like a kimono and with a lapel lined in blooming prints, silk dressing gowns thrown over slouchy velvet suits and overcoats lined with gleaming silks.
GmbH: Benjamin Alexander Huseby and Serhat Isik’s compelling S/S 2018 campaign ‘Europe Endless’ was both a visual dedication to the slick Versace campaigns of the 1980s, and the immigrants that contributed to Germany after the Second World War. For the brand’s debut open air show at Paris Fashion Week, the duo’s vision was a little less utopian. Riffing on protection, armour and, at points, downright doom, the collection featured SAS-style puffer jackets and protective trousers, heavy duty fleeces, arm length motocross gloves and slippery silk oversized tailoring. There was thick denim, leather with medieval armour and ripped knits with panels of knitted chain. The brand is the most hotly tipped Berlin export, and these pieces will be worn by those most avant garde on the fashion scene next season, be they of a sunny or more fittingly of a sombre disposition.
Acne Studios: Creative director and brand co-founder Jonny Johansson gave a group of children the pressing task of designing his A/W 2018 collection. Their naive drawings were then fine tuned and realised in a collection of playful proportions and crayon colours. The outline of a rocket jetted across a lilac fine-gauge knit, while 3D waves lapped around a crochet sweater. Elsewhere, a pair of bagging trousers and duffel coat came in a scribbled jacquard.
Ann Demeulemeester: The label's designer Sébastien Meunier immersed himself in the life and work of poet William Blake this season. In a collection that embraced colour, billowing pirate shirts in pale green and mauve were teamed with slim trousers tucked into sturdy leather riding boots. Frock coats came with strong shoulders and nipped-in waists adorned with brocade belts. Elsewhere, gilets with scalloped hems were fastened with velvet ribbons and long strands of twinkling beads hung loose around necks.
Helmut Lang: Mark Thomas’ first collection as menswear designer for Helmut Lang paid homage to the brand's legacy whilst looking to the future. A military parka came with a magenta shearling lined hood, while an accompanying bomber jacket had a neon yellow collar. Meanwhile, a sheer shirt came with the brand’s iconic logo printed on the back and a knitted ribbed vest with a strap hanging from its bottom hem were updated interpretations from the Lang lexicon.
Maison Margiela: John Galliano’s first menswear collection for the label was a visual feast; the house codes reimagined in the designer’s own inimitable way. A classic trench was worn under its clear plastic replica. A canary yellow puffer had its seams outlined in mink. A jumper sliced into knitted frame. Tailored blazers and overcoats appeared with exaggerated shoulder lines and lapels. Standout was an electric blue suit, cut on the bias.
Brioni: Nina-Maria Nitsche’s first collection for Brioni explored sartorial archetypes for the discerning modern man. The typical nylon puffer undercoat was reimagined in butter soft leather, while a classic peacoat was updated in luxurious cashmere. Bespoke pieces featured an original Japanese tapestry from the nineteenth century turned into an evening jacket and a silk scarf embroidered by a Chinese artist using the ancient Suzhou technique. Refined leather accessories were joined by the introduction of a jewellery collection featuring Haitian pearl cufflinks and lucky charms to be worn on a jacket lapel.
MYAR: Last season, Andrea Rosso looked to the uniforms worn by the British and Finnish armed forces for inspiration, this season his attention looks to the Unites States. Rosso successfully takes vintage military garments and amends them using artisanal techniques to create unique pieces. Dead stock camouflage fabrics were were printed over and reworked into a series of tailored pieces inspired by combat wear. US Army patches were slyly covered with US MYAR ones. An oversized, square cut field jacket and a trench coat with rounded pockets looked ready for action.
AMI: Alexandre Mattiussi told his own Parisian fairytale this season with a collection of updated Gallic wardrobe staples. Audience members sat among a recreation of Paris rooftops, the fading sound of rain hitting metal and a couple meeting signalled the show start. Tailored overcoats were casually teamed with wide leg trousers and faded jeans, while turtle neck sweaters were layered with open collar shirts and worn under double-breasted blazers and puffers. The show saw the introduction of a women’s capsule collection.
Jil Sander: Luke and Lucie Meier’s first full menswear collection for Jil Sander updated the brand’s minimalist legacy with a subtle futuristic twist. A cream ankle-length puffer cocooned its wearer, while fur patch pockets were added to a luxurious tan leather windbreaker. Duvet scarves were tied snuggly around the neck and waist for added protection. Elsewhere, a sleek peacoat and blazer came with graphic stitch lines running across them.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin: Designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin's second collection saw models dressed in slinky androgynous separates lounging around a brightly lit gallery space. A belted cropped trench with frayed edges in Japanese twill was teamed with a pair of elongated flared trousers with a slit at the hem. Elsewhere, ceramic glazed discs were linked together to make a vest and an oversized jacket in butter soft leather hinted at something borrowed from a boyfriend.
Mackintosh: For his third season working with Mackintosh designer Kiko Kostadinov looked at the brand’s past and present connection to the British Rail Service. Generously cut weather-resistant coats were casually thrown over fine-gauge knits tucked into military plus-four style trousers. Rubberised bags, hand-finished in Scotland, were protectively carried under the arm. Railway uniforms from the 1960s were reimagined with perpendicular collars, curved sleeves and elongated trousers.
Pihakapi: Vejas Kruszewski’s debut collection for Italian leather company Pihakapi saw the designer playfully push the material beyond the expected. Kruszewski has put his own eponymous label Vejas, which earned him a special LVMH Award prize, on hold to focus on bringing Pihakapi into the spotlight. The unisex collection saw a leather bonded wool zip-up cardigan with chunky cable knit pattern embossed on the matte surface. A sleek raw hemmed shirt was cut from a silk-like hide, while a jacket had a 3D leather surface resembling bubble wrap. Elsewhere, balloon cut trousers came with protective leather patches and quilted pilot hats added an aviation edge.
Pierre Hardy: This season, Pierre Hardy looked to pimped-up fast cars for inspiration. Fly knit sock boots with tire-like soles and basketball high-tops came with graphic block colour sections reminiscent of car body work. The designer also continued to explore shoe hybrids with striking results: a classic Derby back was seamlessly spliced together with a brogue front.
Yohji Yamamoto: Dishevelled street-cast men walked slowly through the audience at Yohji Yamamoto. Occasionally one would make a challenging stare at a guest, others aggressively bumped into one another in passing. Tailored coats came in block red, while others were covered in collaged prints; one featured a portrait of the young designer with a single tear streaming down his face. Elsewhere, black longer-length jackets that fastened with lines of small fabric covered buttons had the air of priestly robes.
Vetements: The brand staged its A/W 2018 show in a flea market on the outskirts of Paris. Models marched speedily down the market’s narrow alleyways to pounding techno as guests sat on vintage furniture for sale from the stores. The collection was an ode to Maison Margiela, where Vetements co-founder Demna Gvasalia used to work. A belted trench came with a floral-print tea dress back, while oversized tailored blazers and coats appeared inside-out, exposing the brand’s anarchic label. Elsewhere, camouflage trousers had circles cut into them creating a lace-like effect, while others were covered in patches.
Wooyoungmi: This season saw designer Katie Chung take full creative control of the brand that her mother founded in 2002. Queen’s duet with David Bowie, ‘Under Pressure’, filled the grand show space as boys matched aggressively out in oversized suiting, billowing shirts with twisted collars, high-waisted leather trousers and generously cut ankle length coats. A single diamanté earring dangling from a left ear and sharply pointed Chelsea boots hinted at the gender bending icons of 1980s pop.
BOTH: As footwear powers through its hybrid trainer moment, the Paris-based brand remained focused on using natural materials in novel ways. The label first started as a Japanese rubber company founded by chemist George Zhu some three decades ago. A/W 2018 smacked the industrial and the artisanal together; a new line of lace-up boots came with chunky soles that had the look of melted lego.
Phipps: A/W 2018 marked the debut of designer Spencer Phipps’s eponymous line which brings together a streetwear vim with sustainable vigour. Phipps previously spent three years as a designer at Dries Van Noten. His Paris based label is focused on elevated, environmentally-conscious clothes made from organic cottons, recycled nylons and even undyed Mongolian yak hair.
Officine Générale: Pierre Maheo is a designer not concerned with the seasonal whirlwind of hard and fast trends, choosing instead to quietly build on his brand aesthetic. For S/S 2018 he continued to refine items from the Officine Générale lexicon — military inspired jackets and neat bombers were teamed with double pleated trousers and slim cut jeans with frayed hems. Softly tailored blazers were layered over denim jackets and plaid shirts.
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