The new digital order: SS2021 menswear shows that I liked

The supermodels are about to be replaced with digital simulations? The huge effort of months working and projecting to put into a scene a splendid fashion show is going to be useless, as long as one good filmmaker and a camera could make the difference? The bloggers will post, as Susie Bubble did, a cute picture in their home, with the caption #before #Chanel #hautecouture #zoom #meeting? Well, the new digital order of 2020 is about to change the rules. And the way we look at the fashion world. 

It has been a while since I managed to see all the shows from Menswear Paris Fashion Week. Online, of course. Avatars that looked like the ones in video games, movies with a plot or just runways filmed along – the designers on the Paris Fashion Week scene did their best for this troubled times. What did I liked? Here are only 10. If you are curious about the others, check this link – https://parisfashionweek.fhcm.paris/en/calendar/. 

Ralph & Russo couture for 2021- their custom brand avatar, Hauli. Illustrating the journey behind this season, the experience showcases the way in which this collection was brought to life, through a number of digitised looks on their custom brand avatar, while several pieces made in the atelier. The show was uniquely presented against the seven contemporary wonders of the world. 

Jitrois – Maya Es X Kay Farady X Jitrois – the collab with the artists. The French house worked with the talented Maya Es and her husband Kay Faraday.  Artist, storyteller, art director, Maya is showing us her vision of a woman wearing the iconic  “HKL” leather dress. She conceived  Cassia, an avatar that represents a self-confident, adventurous, modern woman. The overwhelming fascination of this dress turns the intergalactic cyborg Aaron into a real man.

Louis Gabriel Nouchi- the poetry reading. For Spring/Summer 2021, French fashion designer Louis-Gabriel Nouchi was inspired by Albert Camus’s book L’Étranger (The Stranger). The collection is presented in the form of a video directed by Parisian artist Keffer. While the doors of Parisian theatres are still closed, the designer worked with the actors, who read Albert Camus’ text from Abroad.

Issey Miyake – the amazing clothes. The video titled Meet Your New Self, namesake of the collection, is creative director Yusuke Kobayashi’s take on people discovering their new selves, featuring the idea behind the collection: looking forward to the future and living through the life in transition. 

Balmain – the boat show. The barge – which saw a musical performance as well as a fashion exhibit – headed down the river, entertaining those on the bank for the evening. Nicknamed Balmain’s Sur Seine, the boat hosted a performance from French singer Yseult and a surprise dance performance. Models walked wearing pieces from Balmain’s archive, including those from Pierre Balmain and his successors, Erik Mortensen, Oscar de la Renta and of course, the current creative director Olivier Rousteing. 

Walter van Beirendonck – the miniatures. “I got inspired by the resourcefulness ofthe French couturiers of the 1940s. Therefore, it was decided to present all designs on miniature mannequins that travelled the world in 1945, called the ‘Théâtre de la Mode’.Together with Eli Effenberger and Trois Quarts Studio in Antwerp, I collaborated on 22 of the most amazingly eerie-looking miniatures”, said the designer. 

Louis Vuitton – the cartoons. Gearing up to unveil his newest collection, the fashion house’s artistic director of menswear Virgil Abloh came up with a new concept titled “The Adventures of Zoooom with Friends” — a virtual and literal voyage wherein the collection itself will transform in an evolving exchange across cultures and nations. Abloh is putting his creative and directorial skills to the test in a short film that serves as an introduction to the Spring/Summer 2021 range. Starting at Louis Vuitton’s ancestral home in Asnières, outside of Paris, the film follows movers packing up shipping containers and loading them onto a barge that then sails down the Seine River and beyond Paris. 

LOEWE – the story in a box. The creative director Jonathan Anderson developed a storyline and provided something real that “showgoers” can still interact with — even if the collection is not being presented on a runway. LOEWE draws influence from Marcel Duchamp’s Museum in a Box; the show in itself becomes portable and a spectacle. Inside, the luxury Spanish fashion house offers a tactile experience, starting with a letter from Jonathan Anderson and following with an inspiration booklet. From there, looks are presented in various formats from 360-degrees to birdseye, while shoes appear on postcards and the look-book is printed in paper blocks.

We11Done – the movie with the theme. Jessica Jung and Dami Kwon‘s from We11Done presented its Spring/Summer 2021 Men’s and Pre-Spring 2021 Women’s collections during Paris Fashion Week Men’s. Inspired by travel, the label’s team put together a short film featuring Korea’s top models showing off the label’s latest styles. 

Thom Browne – the statuesque model. For Spring Summer 2021, Thom Browne has collaborated with singer Moses Sumney, on a short film streamed on the Paris Fashion Week’s digital platform. The project gives a glimpse of Browne’s new collection, with Sumney wearing a long sequined skirt, singing the Olympic Hymn.

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