Vogue World celebrates French style, Olympics amid razzmatazz, as menswear season wraps up in Paris

PARIS (AP) — French singing star Aya Nakamura warbled. Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid rode horses. Whereas Venus and Serena Williams and Katy Perry modeled on the cobbles. This was Paris’ Place Vendome as by no means seen earlier than.

On Worldwide Olympic Day, Vogue World took over the past day of Paris Trend Week’s menswear collections with a show-cum-spectacle themed across the Olympics.

The uncommon occasion blended athleticism, French vogue, and pure, unadulterated razzmatazz from the previous century — marking 100 years because the final Video games in Paris in 1924. The occasion additionally referred again to June 23, 1894, the day on which the founding father of the fashionable Olympics, French nobleman Pierre de Coubertin, launched the Worldwide Olympic Committee.

Listed here are some highlights of collections Sunday:

Vogue World paints the city pink (white and blue)

Matching completely different sports activities to completely different eras and kinds, the high-octane assortment extravaganza felt like a sophisticated Broadway musical — with wonderful garments — because the solar set on Paris’ magnificent Place Vendome.

For the third Vogue World occasion, following a New York road honest in 2022 and a tribute to London’s theater scene in 2023, the present dovetailed with the Paris Video games — celebrating all issues French and runway. Trend designs have been showcased to a backdrop of faucet dancing, pirouetting red-wine-holding waiters, and even fashions clutching baguettes.

Tracing a century, every decade was paired with a designer and magnificence period. The ‘20s was biking and featured white coats by designers resembling Chanel and Schiaparelli. The ’30s was “observe and discipline” by Balenciaga. The ‘40s, the period that gave the bikini to the world, featured “aquatics” by Jacquemus. The ’50s introduced “equestrian” kinds proven by the prism of the decade-defining New Look by Dior. The ‘60s was Courreges’ fencing appears.

By the point the ’70s got here up with choreographed Givenchy-fueled “gymnastics,” some journalists had utterly forgotten to maintain taking notes, caught up within the intoxicating sight of the choreographed spectacle on the picturesque plaza, whose star-filled entrance row, together with Pharrell Williams, rivaled even the celebrities that trod the boards (cobbles).

The ‘80s centered on martial arts and the ’90s on soccer, with a reinterpretation of late icon Azzedine Alaia’s tricolor gown. Cheers rose when the Williams sisters appeared for the “tennis” part, Venus in a daring figure-hugging mermaid gown and Serena warrior-like in a black, utilitarian break up robe.

The finale featured breakdancing. The ambiance was electrical, serving as an unofficial kickoff for the Paris Video games, which can run from July 26 to Aug. 11.

Sacai’s hybrid

Underneath the lofty ceiling of the historic La Poste du Louvre — Paris’ most emblematic Haussmannian put up workplace that was lately renovated — Japanese it-brand Sacai held its newest assortment. Designer Chitose Abe, famend for her method of “hybridization,” continued to merge disparate parts into singular, eye-catching items, making them seem like one factor from the entrance and one other from the again.

Twists have been evident all through the present. Pleats — as seen on white, pink carpet tuxedo shirts — have been creatively reimagined as billowing white floppy tubular skirts and white boho toggle tops. In darker colours, these off-kilter kinds channeled a preppy look, complemented by sheeny leather-based loafers. Certainly, preppy and navy particulars — Abe’s signatures — have been on full show within the funky assortment. White shirts, thick-rimmed spectacles, and pinstripes ticked the preppy field; whereas chunky spherical shoulders and thick layering ticked the navy one.

The gathering additionally highlighted Abe’s knack for mixing the standard with the fashionable. Denim, colourful patterns, and huggable knits supplied a welcome contact of softness in opposition to the harder-lined silhouettes.

The artwork of the invitation

In an age dominated by e mail and heightened environmental consciousness, the style business’s antiquated system of invites stays largely untouched.

Season after season, gasoline-guzzling couriers crisscross Paris, personally delivering elaborate, usually handmade present invitations. High vogue homes compete for essentially the most imaginative and wacky concepts, usually hinting on the runway assortment’s theme.

Pharrell Williams’ invitation for his UNESCO present was a Louis Vuitton embossed Apple AirTag, paying homage to a royal mint memento. Loewe’s invite got here as a large coloured leather-based sq. pocket, too giant for any typical letterbox. Dior Males’s opted for a leather-based pencil case, topped with a sketch of the gathering’s referenced artist and ceramicist, Hylton Nel. In distinction, Vogue World embraced eco-friendliness with a easy QR code despatched by way of e mail.

Wooyoungmi’s fusion of East and West

Madame Woo of Wooyoungmi is famend for her fusion of Parisian — or European — magnificence and Korean cultural heritage. The South Korean designer’s creations mix conventional parts from her homeland with a recent, open-minded view of tradition. On Sunday, her present was a testomony to this.

Leather-based Derby sneakers have been effortlessly paired with cropped Renaissance laced pants adorned with conventional ornamental neck beading.

Different appears masterfully mixed the rugged attract of the American Wild West with particulars like adorned belts and a perforated lengthy coat, paying homage to fashion-forward leather-based disguise.

Madame Woo usually transforms utilitarian fundamentals into luxurious, tactile masterpieces, as seen in earlier collections that includes lush blue velvet chore coats and wonderful brushed suede uniform jackets.

Cropped black leather-based biker pants and a Wooyoungmi logo-emblazoned baseball prime on Sunday ensured that, regardless of the wealthy cultural references, eclecticism was the secret this spring.