Women are increasingly making their mark in men’s fashion, breaking through the “fabric ceiling” that has seen the industry dominated by men and attracted by a sector where some of the most radical changes are taking place.
Fashion has long been an industry focused predominantly on women, but run by men, with a 2019 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing just 12.5 percent of fashion houses had female bosses.
While change is slow at the top, the latest men’s fashion week in Paris that wrapped up on Sunday highlighted the number of exciting female designers choosing to focus on menswear.
Photo: AFP
Grace Wales Bonner’s opening night show in a Place Vendome hotel — her first physical event in Paris — was one of the hottest tickets. Known for literary references and highlighting black and minority artists, it was clear why she is considered a frontrunner to replace the late Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton.
“I went into menswear because I thought there’s a lot more room for expression,” she told reportesr. “It feels like it’s not overdeveloped — [menswear] can be quite conservative at times.”
It was well-received, with Bloomingdale’s men’s director Justin Berkowitz praising her “sharp tailoring ... with charming details for a spot-on, personal collection.”
Bode, meanwhile, returned to Paris for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a vintage collection inspired by rural US and her mother’s family. Known for handcrafted clothes, often made from recycled materials, she was named menswear designer of the year at the CFDA Awards last year.
There were also shows from France’s Marine Serre, who has disrupted the industry with her determined adherence to sustainability, and Britain’s Bianca Saunders, who told reporters that she was attracted to menswear because it offered “a different canvas where I could be very explorative.”
Wales Bonner, Bode, Serre and Saunders are all in their early 30s, but more experienced designers like Gabriela Hearst and Isabel Marant have also launched menswear lines in recent years as the sector hots up.
“Men chase an ideal — today I want to feel like Marlon Brando so I throw on a leather jacket,” said Hermes shoe designer Pierre Hardy, a longtime collaborator of Veronique Nichanian, who has headed menswear at the label for 35 years.
“Women come with fewer cliches, with an external and more neutral perspective,” he told reporters.
“They have an eye that is more centered on reality, with a bit of distance and less fantasy,” said Alice Feillard, menswear buying director at Paris department store Galeries Lafayette.
A new crop is hot on their heels — among them France’s Jeanne Friot, who presented a flamboyant, bright-red collection as part of a newcomer’s showcase in Paris.
“As a woman designer and a lesbian, I have a different perspective on men and fashion,” said Friot, whose most popular piece is an upcycled pair of jeans made from feathers.
“Men need to have more options in their wardrobe than just black, white and grey — why not some pieces that are more feminine and fun,” she said.
Sitting in a lotus position, four men weave glittering beads through gold thread on an organza sheet, carefully constructing a wedding dress that would soon wow crowds at Paris Fashion Week. For once, the French couturier behind the design, Julien Fournie, is determined to put these craftsmen in the spotlight. His new collection, which showed in Paris on Tuesday, was entirely made with fabrics from Mumbai. He said that a sort of “design imperialism” means that French fashion houses often play down that their fabrics are made outside France. “The houses which don’t admit it are perhaps afraid of losing their clientele,” Fournie
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the latest mass shooting tragedy in an American community. Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park. Meyer said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at around 10:30 pm Saturday. He said officers then
INSTABILITY: The country has seen a 33 percent increase in land that cultivates poppies since the military took over the government in 2021, a UN report said The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military’s seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by one-third in the past year, as eradication efforts have dropped and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, a UN report released yesterday showed. Last year, the first full growing season since the military wrested control of the country from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, saw a 33 percent increase in Myanmar’s cultivation area to 40,100 hectares, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime report said. “Economic, security and governance disruptions
RSS