January 21, 2010

Paris Men's Fashion Week begins

My first post ever... A small summary of men's fashion week first day.... I know it's been a long time since this happened but I wrote it and left it forgotten, somewhere in my laptop. So here it is...

Finally!!!!... the one week when nothing else matters, when you wake up, breathe and live for the sole purpose of attending to fashion shows... even eating becomes of second importance! Fashion week is back!

And what better way to start off 2010 and it's first Parisian Semaine de la Mode than attending to 8 fashion shows, seating in front rows and meeting fabulous people? Well, there's NO better way! So that's what I did...

Woke up real early and got to the Alexis Mabille show, at the Académie de l'Architecture, in Place des Vosges, right on time: 10:30!... the break of dawn for a girl who usually wakes up at noon, but it was worth it, of course. I met my friend Julien at the entrance and we went in together. Highlight of the show? Two things, actually: my first time ever watching gorgeous men modeling underwear and Tim Blanks, you know, the guy from E! fashion file, waving at me. He recognized me from the women's fashion week! Oh, and the clothes were pretty awesome too... I liked them a lot... but I don't know if it was because there were some pieces I could actually wear myself. Maybe some pieces were little too feminine for a straight guy, but I guess some out there could pull them off!

Next stop was Issey Miyake, first front row of the season. His show was held in something resembling (or maybe it actually was) a coffee shop. Very appropriate since, apparently, coffee was his inspiration for the collection. I liked it in general, except for the weird orange pants with psychedelic matching shirt outfit... too That 70's Show for my taste... I met with the rest of my fashion week friends here. I missed them! We make such a good team!

Francisco Van Benthum's show was up next. Me and my friend Midou sat together in the front row and I learned a whole lot about the models walking the runway from him (which, incidentally, I have already forgotten). The collection was awesome! I really liked the pants and we all agreed that an outfit with a great coat and big neck was the best. Midou loved the shoes.
The Juun J. show, held in a warehouse at the end of a gratified alley in the 3e arrondisement, was good too. My friends didn't catch it because they had to go for a couple of hours, but I was there, front row. I loved the layered coats and jackets. The way the usual fabric was mixed with leather or wool was amazing! Really beautiful (and more important, refreshingly innovative) pieces. I just didn't like the shoes: too astronautish for my taste. But I did like the freebie: a scarf thing was waiting for you in your seat when you got there.

Afterwards, I got the Louis Vuitton show "secret location" and... well, what can you say about it? I know what I can say: best models ever! So tall and beautiful... and manly, not like all them other models, that look more like frail little girls. I was at the back stage, admiring the general beauty and wandering around looking for something to eat (starved myself all day!), when suddenly, I bumped into none other than Marc Jacobs! He is very cute in person, but rather shorter than I was expecting. Still, a genius, of course! He was very nice too. After a little while, Kanye West arrived to congratulate him on the collection. I finally found some champagne and a smoked salmon sandwich, my friends and took off in a cab to the next show...
By the time I got to Gaspard Yurkievich, I was starting to feel the strain of fatigue in my body. I met my friends there again and sat in the front row with Midou, again. I liked some parts of the collection. It was good, but, in my opinion, it was too safe a bet. I loved the waist-bags and the short pants, showing off matching socks. Cute!


After that, me and my friend Fily landed front row seats at Jean Paul Gaultier. The show was
amazing. Boxing was the theme and every detail was perfect. The invitations were hilarious (retro-boxing-match-publicity looking) and the whole setting decoration, flawless. There even was a ring with a couple of girls "fighting" during the whole show. And I found out here that when I thought the LV models where as masculine as it got, I had yet to see the beaten up, bruised (make-up, of course) gods that JPG used to show off his creations. But focusing on what we care about now, clothes, I personally adored the collection. Maybe it's just because of how well they sold it, with the whole show (razzle dazzle!), but I totally bought it! It was great. And fun which in my opinion, is something you want your show to be if the people you invited have already been to 6 other shows that same day.

Fily and I got into the backstage (thanks, mainly, to Chris Brown) and met Jean Paul Gaultier who, I was glad to see, is as nice as a guy can be. He was cheerful, jumping around, posing for cameras. It is incredible that a genius can be that much fun!

Finally, by the time we got to our front row seats at Smalto, I was so drained, I just wanted to go home. The show was way too safe and simple for me. I love when designers take risks and go out of the comfort zones (specially in something that rarely changes, like men's clothing).

We didn't get into Dries Van Noten and I called it a day. Let's see what tomorrow brings. But, for now, all I can say is how awesome it is to finally be back here, where I feel at home.


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