Dior
The Spring/Summer 2023 menswear fashion month has come to an end with presentations in London, Florence, Milan, and Paris. Blockbuster presentations from some of the greatest names in the business, like as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Dior, took place in the last month. It was also an opportunity to highlight a number of up-and-coming designers and companies.
We compiled the top 15 shows from all of the European fashion weeks as fashion month for the current season comes to a close.
Loewe
The SS23 collection from Loewe was unveiled in Paris, and it was characterized by the combination of “the organic and the artificial,” in the words of creative director Jonathan Anderson, as well as the crossing ideas of perception, nature, and progress.
In one section of the collection, living plants like chia plants and cat’s wort that were grown over 20 days in a Parisian polytunnel are expertly embroidered, while in another, earphones, pen drivers, and phone cases are sewn onto expensive leather coats to juxtapose ephemeral beings with tech relics. Elsewhere, the collection comprises high-end hoodies with light tailoring next to billowing, puffed-up jackets, oversized sweaters combined with form-fitting athletic tights, as well as new variations of the label’s Puzzle bags, cross-body and basket totes.
Louis Vuitton
A unexpected musical performance by Kendrick Lamar served as a musical break in the Louis Vuitton SS23 collection, which was filled of cultural allusions that embodied Black creativity and themes of pride and joy. The show began with a dynamic march of Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 Band leading the LV-clad models down a spiraling, candy-painted yellow runway as a prologue to the collection while playing a soulful rendition of Lipps, Inc.’s “Funkytown.”
Evening coats, crepe suits, and parka jackets with intricate flower design patterns, cartoonish graphics, and neon-hued charm tassels accentuated structural ’80s silhouettes and pop art decals. The collection also included treated denim, padded shoulders, and wide-legged slit-hem pants. LV-branded envelope-package purses and moon boots emerged in the accessories lineup.
In addition, new versions of the house’s skate sneakers are available in lime green, brilliant orange, white and grey, and black and white. Even though there have been no official statements on who would take over the creative design responsibilities after Virgil Abloh’s demise, the brand’s SS23 collection served as a colorful beginning of a new era.
Dior
Fashion week is a spectacle that attracts viewers from all around the world, and manufacturers go above and beyond to engage viewers with engaging narratives. Kim Jones led guests on a brief getaway to the French countryside, and Dior did not fall short in expressing its ideas. The unsung heroes of a brand’s upcoming collection’s narrative are frequently the runway set designers.
With the Dior SS23 collection, Jones recreates Monsieur Dior’s birthplace of Granville, Normandy, and invites visitors to experience the collection through a beautiful garden. With Duncan Grant’s help, a British painter, the series captured the flowery and green landscape. The major focus of the ready-to-wear collection was made up of post-impressionist drawings of natural settings. concentrating on outdoor adventures.
Thom Browne
Thom Browne views the world of fashion as a playground where he can exercise his ideas and challenge his audience. For the appropriately named “Why Not? “, Browne was freer and more fetishized than ever before, exploring the punkish overtones of sartorial design and witnessing tweed strung from jockstraps and anchor-shaped face covers. Starting the program with models who arrived “late” was funny and suggested that viewers shouldn’t take it seriously, but the looks that came next were everything from a joke.
Shirts were cropped and dressed with school uniform ties, skirts were worn low on the hip, and thigh-high shorts were worn with flawlessly nipped-in blazers continued Browne’s commentary on having fun with traditions.. Twin-sets, a trend popularized by Miu Miu, were worn with exposed jockstraps.
Y/Project
Glenn Marten’s Y/Project consistently reinvents shapes with each new season. Marten, a master of volume and shape, is still one of the most talked-about fashion designers, and for valid cause.
The newest Y/Project collection for the SS23 season included visceral trompe-l’oeil restructured shirts, architectural outerwear in elevated fabrications, and Marten’s distinctive twisted denim in a symphony of illusion. Contemporary harmony was ushered in by beautiful details combined with conceptual design notes that blurred the boundaries of reality.
The label’s current collection also launched its second collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier’s ready-to-wear brand, which integrated the French designer’s fantastical flair.
Prada
Prada’s approach for SS23 was heavily influenced by paper products, from its show invites to the venue itself. White construction paper with enormous window cutouts covered the show’s floor and walls, and invitations arrived in the shape of laser-thin paper car jackets and button-down gingham shirts. Cotton coats, colorful green-and-white, yellow-and-white, and red-and-white gingham shirts, and jackets made up the real-world incarnations of the mailers, which walked down the runway.
Leather and denim were a major theme in Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ joint designs for SS23. Sleek bomber jackets, leather vests, micro shorts, and heeled ankle boots were among the denim pieces featured. The presentation also featured a significant amount of accessories, including extended-sized leather totes and large leather totes.
JW Anderson
After Jonathan Anderson consistently outperformed himself for LOEWE, JW Anderson found his groove with SS23. JW Anderson’s SS23 collection, which prompted us to examine more closely, included references to childhood, nostalgia, conceptual wearables, and Rembrandt.
What is subjective and what is objective, Anderson posed as a question to his audience. In the end, it is up to the wearer to choose whether or not this specific item is appropriate for them. He looked at possibilities and the commonplace aspects of life; for example, a twisted and opened metal can ring that had been thrown away now served as a window into the personality of the bearer (and skin). Additionally, the traditional QR code that is intarsia stitched into sweaters no longer elicits.
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY
As part of its unrelenting self-expression philosophy, Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY intended to showcase the LGBT experience for SS23 with a collection that was unabashedly flamboyant and a fashion video called PHWOARRR!
The range gives the traditional Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY archetype a contemporary makeover while injecting it with signature style rules. Men’s and women’s wool and recycled polyester tailoring has gender-neutral pinstripes and chainmail lining in addition to sharp-yet-sensual shapes. Along a pastel-controlled color wheel, lightweight transparent dresses meet billowing blouses, and military-inspired accessories softly poke fun at cliches.
Kenzo
With KENZO, NIGO makes the premiere of his sophomore collection, continuing to infuse the Paris-based company with a youthful, preppy vitality. The SS23 collection included splashes of color all throughout and innovative takes on traditional suiting to raise the bar for casual attire. NIGO drew influence from a variety of eras, including the 1930s and 1940s American railroad workers’ uniforms, and gave the pieces a contemporary, daily twist.
KENZO’s box-cut, comfort-focused tailoring draws inspiration from both Japanese suiting and the streetwear style. The Boke flower is still a recurring feature in the collection, which is a significant element that enhances the season’s whimsical mash-up of colorful patterns and designs.
Homme Plissé Issey Miyake
The SS23 Homme Plissé Issey Miyake exhibition emphasized the flexibility and breathability of the clothing, just as prior presentations. Instead than following the conventions of regular runway displays, this performance highlights the collection’s adaptability.
Models and dancers from the Chaillot Theatre National de la Danse were combined together for this performance by the label. These dancers threw each other about the stage, stood three persons tall, and climbed the scaffolding in the background throughout the performance. The artists wore various colors and styles of Homme Plissé throughout all of their antics.
With vivid reds and yellows paired with subdued neutral tones, the outfits themselves also highlighted the fabric’s adaptability. Later in the presentation, other items had prints that were influenced by cotton plants. While other standouts featured curved hem suit jackets, expanded coats, and technical-style vests, the floral theme persisted in some of the structures, including pants modeled like lilies.
Martine Rose
The highlight of the week was Martine Rose’s SS23 runway presentation, which is the crowning achievement of London’s fashion industry. One of Rose’s best collections to date, it explored tensions, sex, and normality through extreme silhouettes and clashing elements. Rose collaborated with Nike once more, and her ability to blend business world influences with streetwear influences and subvert traditions made for one of her strongest collections to date.
Floor-to-ceiling latex drapes covering a Vauxhall warehouse provided the backdrop for Rose’s BSDM allusions, which included belt-come-restraints and keys fastened to the zippers of her pants. For Rose, the devil is in the details. She manipulated sleeves, shrunk forms, and tight-fitting fabrics while wearing flasher-grade mac coats over soft pink tracksuits and metal D-ring chokers with satin cocktail dresses.
Martine Rose, in a nutshell, remarked on the seedy underbelly of nightclub culture and combined it with high society, aptly summarizing modern society.
Wales Bonner
At Pitti Uomo this season, Grace Wales Bonner brought her namesake label to Florence as a special guest. The SS23 collection, which was displayed at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, was inspired by both the African diaspora and European legacy. Ibrahim Mahama created an installation to commemorate the influence that used locally sewn jute bags to depict the history of migration, trade, and globalization.
The collection expanded on Wales Bonner’s clean and beautiful look while also continuing this topic. Black cashmere tuxedos, belted jackets, and a camel hair coat manufactured alongside Savile Row’s Anderson and Sheppard stood out as examples of tailoring. Other highlights were silk jacquard opera jackets, beaded macrame skirts, and Burkinabe hand-dyed jerseys. Wales Bonner also gave a first peek at the next adidas Originals release as well as a collaboration with artist Kerry James Marshall.
Nahmias
For the Nahmias SS23 collection, Doni Nahmias and his California-cool background found a spot in Paris. Billowy silk shirts, multi-pocket cargo trousers, knit board shorts, and voluminous denim all featured elevated vestiges of the skate aesthetic and surf culture (with jewel-encrusted logo). Sleeveless shirts and spacious slacks were dyed in a kaleidoscope pattern with tones of mint green, orange, and black. Long-sleeved tops included graphic elements like a scenic coastline, while tank tops and padded vests had brand names like “Miracle Academy” and “Summerland.”
Innovating further, the brand launched a one-of-a-kind capsule collection that has completely scannable, first-of-its-kind QR code technology built into the garments. The special capsule of T-shirts and accessories can be scanned by a smartphone in conjunction with Boi-1da and Bacard’s “Music Liberates Music” program, allowing consumers to discover new music and content from underrepresented artists. This provides unrivaled access to the future generation’s creative potential.
VTMNTS
Guram Gvasalia is still defining his sense of fashion as a designer while serving as the only creative director of VTMNTS and VETEMENTS. However, it is clear from the few solo albums under his belt that Gvasalia’s worldview unites edge and seduction with the idea of freedom.
VTMNTS provided an architectural interpretation of seductive but cool for the SS23 season. Cutting fitted garments like asymmetrical single-button blazers in half created an almost anti-uniform cadence while fusing avant-garde and streetwear dress notes. Exaggerated “double shoulder” overcoats and complete leather trenchcoats with matching thigh-high boots served as further highlights. Despite the fact that Gvasalia’s career as a solitary designer is still in its infancy, the talented Georgian-born individual is developing a radically exquisite yet modern perspective on changing identities.
WINNIE New York
The Idris Balogun-founded brand WINNIE New York has seen a meteoric rise, winning this year’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize and now making a triumphant return to Paris Fashion Week. The “Cold Feet” SS23 collection, which removed the apparel from its usual setting and challenged preconceptions about it, was presented in a gallery setting.
Alida Rodrigues, an Angolan artist, was a special inspiration for Balogun’s SS23 collection. Both the set design of the venue and the way the collection combined conventional shapes with experimental constructions in Italian linen, virgin wool, light cashmere, and mohair were inspired by Rodrigues’ work, which mixes old images with botanical drawings.
Since the label’s launch in 2019, the “Cold Feet” collection was WINNIE and Balogun’s first opportunity to present firsthand. While that pause was mandated, Balogun took advantage of the opportunity to sharpen his vision for the startup label, and the SS23 collection demonstrates how far it may go.
