Five top trends at Paris men’s fashion week

Paris, France | AFP |

With Paris men’s fashion week coming to a climax over the weekend, we pick out five of the main trends so far on the spring-summer catwalks:

Gorilla sleeves

They may give their wearer something of the look of Lurch from “The Addams Family”, but nothing is more on trend at the moment than sleeves that dangle to the knees.

Super-long “gorilla sleeves” now have global reach after making early Paris appearances in shows by Raf Simons and Demna Gvasalia’s hugely influential Vetements brand over the past year.

While Gvasalia resisted his own trope in his show for Balenciaga Wednesday, there were no shortage of others following in his oversized wake.

Very long sleeves were prominent in Los Angeles avant-gardist Rick Owens’ show and the Korean label Juung.j went almost Mr Gadget length in its hoodies Friday, adding trailing cords to make them look even longer.

Are they practical? Certainly not. But are they likely to filter down to stroppy teenager street fashion. You bet.

Djellabas

Maybe it’s because it is Ramadan, or more likely there is some other sort of strange kismet at work. Whatever the reason, it’s hard to ignore to all the clothes with something of an Islamic air.

While we’re still a long way from a male equivalent of “modest fashion”, Lemaire alone featured four jellabas — including one which would not look out of place on an imam.

Designer Christophe Lemaire insisted he had not consciously set out to a create specific Muslim-influenced style, but was just “picking up influences from people I live around in Paris”.

Another trendy Paris label OAMC had a rethought djellaba raincoat as well as a lighter tunic shirt. And the Japanese brand Issey Miyake got in on the act with sublime kameez tunics and blanket shawls inspired by a trip designer Yusuke Takahashi took to India.

Boiler suits

Workwear has been in for some time and now the humble boiler suit has got its day in the sun.

The one-piece overall was thoroughly deconstructed and reassembled by Andrea Crews into a whole wardrobe, from biker suit to dungarees, while Comme des Garcons protege Junya Watanabe nattily matched them with Panama and pork pie hats.

Lemaire added a topical twist, with one-pieces resembling the battledress of peshmerga Kurdish fighters, the heroes of the fight against the Islamic State group.

Tartan

Maybe not in Brigadoon proportions, but tartan — used sparingly — is a recurring theme across several collections for spring-summer 2017. Louis Vuitton and Japanese labels Kolor and Facetasm made striking use of it in their shows, while OAMC went “Trainspotting” meets the Edinburgh Tattoo with check Crombie-style coats and trousers.

Boys will be girls

Unisex and androgynous looks a have been the big men’s meta-trend for some time. This week we have seen both men and women modelling men’s clothes as well as boys in mini skirts (Maison Margiela) and in ever so effete pastels (Pigalle). The never less than wonderful Walter Van Beirendonck dressed his models in gorgeous trailing ribbons, inspired by English Morris men folk dancers. Juung.j’s models trailed cords in their wake as they walked down the runway and at least one of the big houses showing over the weekend has apparently had the same idea.