How 6 Rising Brands Are Taking On Paris Fashion Week

Paris Fashion Week men’s kicks off today, and you know what that means: Brands will present their latest collections; celebrities will sit front row; social media will be flooded with a ton of blurry photos and videos of models walking down the runway. Last season, Louis Vuitton, Dior Men, and Celine were the most anticipated shows, with new creative leads taking the helm at each respective fashion house (Virgil Abloh at LV, Kim Jones at Dior Men, and Hedi Slimane at Celine). That’s likely still the case this week—your second collection is just as important as your debut. But Paris Fashion Week isn’t just about the luxury fashion houses that have hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on a production at palaces.

Each season, newcomers try their hand at Paris Fashion Week either by doing traditional runway shows, presentations, or showroom appointments. No matter the venue, the goal is the same: to wow the editors, buyers, influencers, and celebrities in town. We put together a primer on the young talent to watch this week. From Casablanca to Rhude, here's how six rising brands are taking on Paris Fashion Week.

After launching Casablanca this past summer, Pigalle co-founder Charaf Tajer is finally hosting the brand’s inaugural fashion show in Paris, his hometown and where Casablanca is currently based. “It’s an honor to present my first runway collection in my home city—a city that has provided the platform for so many great artists,” says Tajer. “A city that has inspired me throughout my entire life.”

At the show, which will be held at the luxurious Hotel Mona Bismarck on Jan. 17, Tajer will present Casablanca’s Fall/Winter 2019 collection, which was inspired by his travels to Casablanca, Morocco, where he and his family lived for a few years when he was a child. “There is a wonderful restaurant in Casablanca called Kabastan,” explains Tajer. “It boasts views of the ocean throughout the restaurant. It’s a place I go to when I’m in Morocco. When I’m there, the serenity of the port and the sea breeze pushes me to think creatively. The feeling of absolute relaxation is what the brand is really trying to make the people see and feel viscerally.”

At its core, Casablanca aims to speak to contemporary young men who want to wear luxury clothing without it being formal wear. Its debut Spring/Summer 2019 collection included linen suits, all-over print button-ups, T-shirts, and terry cloth tracksuits made more to be worn off the court than on. Conceptually, the Fall/Winter 2019 line will derive from the same aesthetic, and still include terry cloth tracksuits, but also 16 different styles of silk shirt, denim, and knitwear. You’ll definitely want to keep an eye on Casablanca’s debut show—and the brand itself, before it blows up.

Designer Rhuigi Villasenor will present Rhude’s Fall/Winter 2019 collection via appointments at a showroom in Paris. “Horse Power,” as the collection’s called, is an exploration on motorsports and our society’s dependence on technology. The pieces will follow a color palette based on Midwest tones—inspired by Villasenor’s road trip across the U.S.—and will have tongue-in-cheek references to American Heritage and plays on logos.

Villasenor has been teasing a few items from the collection, including a T-shirt with a photo of a horse and the words “Dear God, I’m doing the best I can” (a doodle from a letter Villasenor’s friend’s daughter wrote), a blanket with Rhude’s popular Marlboro graphic, and a sunglass collaboration with Thierry Lasry. We can’t wait to see the rest of the line.

Guillermo Andrade of 424 is one of the young talents who’ve infiltrated Paris Fashion Week. This season, the L.A.-based designer is heading back to the City of Lights to show his Fall/Winter 2019 collection. “To go from The Canal in San Rafael, California to Place A Vendôme in Paris is beyond words for me,” he says.

The collection will include DIY elements, tailoring—a favorite of Andrade—and, while he won’t divulge more information, 424's “biggest” collaboration to date. There’s a lot to look forward to, to say the least.

This week, HAVEN, which launched its in-house line back in 2017, will present its Fall/Winter 2019 collection at a showroom in Paris. Inspired by Canada’s four seasons and the harsh conditions that accompany them, the line will include military and workwear-inspired garments made in Canada and Japan—a signature of HAVEN’s—that use modern and traditional technologies and textiles. Primaloft® insulation is used for outerwear, tops, and bottoms. Key outerwear pieces are made from a Japanese polyester and nylon knit, which has a soft but structural hand feel that develops a unique sculptural appearance and patina over time. The list goes on. If you know anything about HAVEN, you know that the Canadian men’s retailer is a master at creating functional pieces that you’d actually want to buy.

Founded by designer Kiko Kostadinov, stylist and creative consultant Stephen Mann, Mackintosh head designer Taro Ray, and Gimme Five founder Michael Kopelman, Affix was initially launched as a program on the Know-Wave radio station before branching out into clothing early last year. Now, it’s one of the new exciting brands in menswear today.

This week, Affix will debut its Fall/Winter 2019 collection at the brand’s first stand alone showroom in Paris. According to Mann, the line will be a continued exploration of global utility products—a signature of Affix, which releases traditional workwear but with a more fashion-forward approach. But this season, there will be a wider range of styles and categories. Some highlights include a work suit, a weather resistant parka inspired by border patrol apparel, and a new footwear collaboration.

In addition to the showroom, Affix will be hosting events at a local bar called ZERO ZERO. Each night will be hosted by a DJ who has played on Affix Radio and it will be open to the public.

In four years, MISBHV has established itself as one to watch, and last year, it hit a new milestone. The Polish streetwear brand—the brainchild of lead designer Natalia Maczek and creative director Thomas Wirski—presented its first ever fashion show in Warsaw, the sprawling capital of Poland. But for the Fall/Winter 2019 season, Maczek and Wirski are finally heading to Paris.

MISBHV, which releases both men’s and women’s, draws from the past, often as it relates to Poland’s rich history and pop and sub cultures from Europe. For their latest collection, Maczek and Wirski were inspired by the ‘60s and ‘70s, and more specifically: Megatripolis, an underground London nightclub; The Summer of Love, a social phenomenon where hundreds of thousands of young people dressed in hippie clothing came together in San Francisco; and the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a historic concert held in London. “They have been seminal events for European counterculture,” explains Maczek, “and learning about the latter has been particularly inspiring since a lot of what we tried to do this season was a crossover between a certain philosophical standpoint and the foundation of MISBHV, which has always been nightlife.”

When the show takes place on Jan. 19, expect to see iridescent nylon sourced from Italy used in various pieces, including traditional European tailoring, embellishments inspired by ice skating, and upcycled MISBHV archival items that feature the work of Slawomir Pawszak, a young Polish painter.