The Best of Paris Fashion Week

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There was something very satisfying about seeing Westside Gunn sit front row at Off-White—Virgil Abloh played his song "Perfect Plex" during the show—Louis Vuitton, and Casablanca. The rapper from Buffalo, New York, whose songs are littered with luxury clothing references, looked right at home during Paris Fashion Week, mixing his mound of diamond chains, Cartier glasses, and signature ski mask he wears as a skull cap with an Off-White trench coat on Wednesday, a Miami Sharks hockey jersey on Thursday, and a Casablanca silk shirt on Friday. Rappers attending fashion shows is nothing new, but something about Westside Gunn, an underground rapper with no association to Kanye West and a true love for fashion, felt redemptive. So often rappers laud designers and the brands act is if they don't exist. It was nice to see him experience Paris Fashion Week for the first time and meet an idol, Takashi Murakami.—Aria Hughes     

In December of last year, Futura said he would be busy during Paris Fashion Week. “I mean we’re just out there right now for sure,” he said. “More than ever. There’s no doubt.” There was going to be a collaboration with Gore-Tex and a Comme des Garçons project, he told me. Futura worked with Comme last year for a “Black Market” release, so this wasn’t a surprise. But what were Futura and the master Rei Kawakubo cooking up this time?

This past Saturday, Comme des Garçons Shirt presented its Fall/Winter 2020 collection, which included a capsule with the graffiti artist. The line included various shirts—some with fronts that had been latticed, a pleat bib, overlaid cut-outs—jackets, and Comme des Garçons Shirt’s extremely popular PVC totes (available in 2 sizes), all of which feature existing works from Futura dating as far back as 1985. “It’s very flattering,” Futura, who met Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market president Adrian Joffe at DSM, told Vogue. “We selected a couple of pieces and said to Rei and Adrian ‘Just interpret them as you wish. It’s such an honor and you know you are going to get something great.”

Futura, initially through his Futura Laboratories brand,which he just relaunched last year, has always found a way to make his artwork accessible to his fans and transform them into clothing and collectibles. This Comme des Garçons Shirt collab is a fun example of how Futura mixes art and fashion. I’m definitely copping.—Karizza Sanchez

Since taking over as Louis Vuitton men’s artistic director in 2018, Virgil Abloh has created grand sets for his fashion shows. For his debut, there was a 200 metre-long rainbow catwalk. There was also the New York sidewalk set, complete with artwork by Futura, from the Fall 2019 show. Last season, he worked with New York City-based creative studio Playlab, Inc. to bring an inflatable red LV bouncy castle, oversized LV monogrammed park benches, and crepe stands to the Place Dauphine, where the show took place. “There were multiple themes but it’s really about making people feel like a kid again and this beauty of boyhood, childhood, and positivity,” Playlab, Inc. co-founder Archie Lee Coates IV told us.

At his Fall/Winter 2020 show this past week, where Abloh presented his take on male dress codes, he worked with Playlab, Inc. once again, this time transforming a tent in the Tuileries Gardens. The runway and walls of the space were painted like a cloudy sky, with a giant beanstalk running through the middle. Scattered throughout the runway were gargantuan models of tools used by LV craftsmen, including a pencil, a spool of thread, and scissors. It seemed to be partly inspired by a scene from “The Truman Show” with Jim Carrey.

A few designers, like Raf Simons and Rick Owens, chose to present their latest collections amidst very minimal settings. Often, it was just a runway show and no specific build outs (Raf painted his runway a bright yellow), but it felt more than enough. The clothes were that good that it didn’t feel necessary. But Abloh’s approach to set design has helped enforce the theme of his collections and have made his shows truly a spectacle, with plenty to look at.—Karizza Sanchez

Jerry Lorenzo has always been the best ambassador for his brand, Fear of God, but this season, in the midst of his peers trying to evolve out of graphic T-shirts and hoodies on the runway, Lorenzo's looks felt a tad more grown up, too. He mixed his signature sweats and oversized T-shirts with a leather blazer, double breasted jacket, tailored coats and his take on a driving slipper. The looks felt more sophisticated but not too far off from what we know Lorenzo for. —Aria Hughes

When approaching Raf Simon's Fall/Winter 2020 show, which was held at the Studio Kremlin, a movie studio just outside of Paris, the windows were glowing red. Simons is known for bringing his guests to far-flung or unexpected places, physically and mentally, with his collections, but something about this experience felt different. 

Upon walking inside, one could see the the set, a runway lined with rolls of yellow paper and no assigned seats, was quite simple. It was if Simons wanted to strip the show experience from its typical distractions and hierarchy to focus on the clothes—even J Balvin was asked to move because he was obstructing the live stream camera. It was the right decision because the clothes deserved all of the attention. 

"Solar Youth" was the primary concept—it showed up on muffs, T-shirt collars, and turtlenecks. Simons is never one to expound much on his inspirations, but he told BOF he's looking at the HBO series the Watchmen—a cover of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” that played during a Watchmen episode served as some of Simons' show music—and he's thinking about the beauty of the sun, hence the set and Solar Youth messaging. And in a time of discord, he wanted to create clothes that made people feel comforted. 

But really, all that mattered was the clothes. Look after look presented items you wanted to buy or leave the show wearing. Oversized double breasted blazers with a silk lapel were styled with matching trousers that had whisper of what looked like feathers on the side hem. Tailored coats were covered with abbreviated capes, and oversized outerwear featured a clear plastic covering, something that comes up often in Simons work but still looked fresh. Simons also debuted his new runner collection, which on the runway only included Chelsea boots with an athletic heel, but the full assortment will also feature actual sneakers. It was the familiar mixed with the unfamiliar. A collection of beautiful items you probably don't own or you can't find in stores. Pieces that are special enough to wear to an important event but comfortable enough for every day. And at the most basic level, isn't that what we want from a collection?—Aria Hughes