OK so in all honesty today, one of the big days at the Paris menswear shows, was a bit of a let down for me.
Junya Watanabe did this bizarre bucolic workwear/farmwear show in a park that made no sense, Kriss Van Assche's (one of my minimalist designer-crushes) show was completely underwhelming, and while Comme de Garcon's (another fav) show was entertaining it was not, all things considered, likely to set the world of menswear alight, they did a nice line in crazy Mexican Madonna statue crowns though , see for yourself -
NOWFASHION | 24 Jun 2011 - Comme des Garcons Homme Plus - Menswear - Spring Summer 2012 - Paris
As I say, entertaining but not genuinely fascinating.
Balmain and JPG produced "presentations" rather than shows, and Balmain looked like they'd raided a local vintage clothes shop and maybe the odd charity shop too for their offerings.
The Walter Van Beirendonk show bucked the trend by being inovative and almost theatrical but I don't suppose anyone noticed or will be wearing his creations at your local bar.
NOWFASHION | 24 Jun 2011 - Walter Van Beirendonck - Menswear - Spring Summer 2012 - Paris
So the fashion world turned to the menswear-great-white-hope, Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy's relatively new head of menswear) who is widely credited with having completely renovated Givenchy menswear's staid and stuffy image by making it ultra directional and highly modern. Who knew Givenchy would ever be avant garde? Certainly not old Hubert de Givenchy, himself a staunch traditionalist.
But Givenchy is one of those rare beasts, one of the last remaining true couture houses and is undergoing a rebirth of sorts.
I was therefore rather excited as I watched the minutes count down to the live photo-feed.
What then transpired was in my opinion a huge damp squib-
NOWFASHION | 24 Jun 2011 - Givenchy - Menswear - Spring Summer 2012 - Paris
The show featured 3 colours, and I mean only 3; Olive and Lotus green and white with flashes of purple. The Purple occured in the form of a botanical print turned into a fabric pattern (reproduced in print, embroidery, sequins etc) which Tisci used liberally, and by liberally I mean to death, on a large number of garments in the collection.
There are some very beautiful pieces in the collection, to pretend otherwise would be ridiculous. However the majority of the collection was gimicky, the new-kilt featured heavily (which is so boring tbh) as did baseball caps and what looked like hospital issue corrective sandals.
The print, which was I admit refreshing the first 3 looks I saw it used on, became hideously and tastelessly monotonous, and by the end of the show I would have been glad never to see it again. Sure it wasn't SS '12's Blue/Red/Black/White/Grey monochromatic uniform, but that didn't elevate it.
I hated the skirts, I'm sorry but I'll never like them on men, and baseball caps don't belong on a couture runway IMHO.
The simpler looks which did not use the print were in some cases very beautiful and exquisitely cut. Some of the suits and pullovers and pants were eminently desireable.
However the overall feel of the collection was inelegant, and in my opinion lacking inspiration, even the exotic seeming pieces were rehashes or just downright ugly.
INGL it looked like a collection designed for Usher's next tour.
His fanboys gushed about the colour scheme, I found it unimaginative, it was as though Tisci had seen the botanical print in some hotel bathroom and thought "oh! That's SS '12 done then!".
For me the best show of today was Louis Vuitton which was incredibly beautiful, and came as a huge surprise to me.