Click:chinese lantern film prop
The world is about to go all baggy. As stock markets tumble and
economists talk of more tightening of belts, fashion has gone supersized,
with Paris catwalks overflowing Wednesday with
outsized overcoats and baggy trousers.
If the first day of the menswear catwalks shows is anything to go by, men will
be flapping around in too-long trousers and enormous ankle-length coats when
the new autumn-winter designs hit the shops in six months’ time.
Most of the models in Off-White’s show looked as if they had borrowed their
big brother’s clothes or were auditioning for a remake of the video of
British
ska band Madness’ 1980 hit “Baggy Trousers”.
American designer Virgil Abloh, fashion guru to the rapper Kanye West, went for
long flowing greatcoats and bomber jackets with hands lost inside
long sleeves,
and a series of huge overcoats that could double as man-sized badass baby
sleep suits.
And former Chanel darling Raf Simons, who left for his own label in October,
took the supersize trend to still greater extremes with humongous, hoodies
and jumpers large enough to shelter a small family and their pets.
Even the usually restrained Parisian label Lemaire was in on the new
look, mixing
its classic restrained collection with boxy coats that go below knee and
long baggy pants that are likely to fray on the pavement behind you.
Newcomers OAMC tried to give the supersize look a snarling street wise
twist in their debut show, with big parkas paired with short baggy trousers
and boots.
Their skinhead models played at being gang members, insulting the audience
who were forced to stand — “Fils de pute!” (sons of whores) — in between
shouting out the brand’s name.
In the face of such brazen bad manners Valentino was all perfect lines and
grooming. But mid-show its design duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo
Piccioli suddenly went all hippy with ponchos and rancher sheepskin jackets
before going south of the border with black tailored suits with white
stitching that channelled both the Mexican Day of the Dead and Cockney
pearly
kings.
The joyous highlight of the day, however, was the Belgian Walter Van
Beirendonck’s riotously inventive show “Woest”, which means furious in his
native Flemish.
With felt scarves with cuddly toys at one end and Kalashnikov rifle or
chainsaw shapes at the other, van Beirendonck was clearly inspired by the
terror attacks and migrant crisis shaking Europe.
Looking like a cross between Papa Smurf and a pirate with his full grey
beard, orange bobble hat and pearl earrings, the designer told AFP the
scarves
were “like dolls. We wanted to create kind of puppets. We feel today like we
are puppets and other people are pulling the strings. It is a mixture of
very
sweet things and very aggressive things which is what the world is like
now.”
“What has happened in the last year has been really depressing,” he added.
“Everyone has the feeling the the world is really fucked up and that things
are out of control. The migrants, the attacks and the crime… It’s tough.”
Using bold primary colours and some eye catching mixes of ethnic,
Amerindian and leopard skin motifs, van Beirendonck also went big and baggy
but opted for shorter flared trousers, the better to show off his
multi-coloured high-heeled Oxford shoes.
Emblazoned across the chest of one see-through sweater was the message
“Stop terrorizing our world.”
“Even the hardest things in life I try to transfer into the most
colourful
fabrics,” he said. “I don’t want to create doom.” (Fiachra Gibbons,
AFP)