Paris Menswear: Lunchtime at Givenchy, after hours at Egonlab

On Wednesday in Paris there was a significant contrast in styles at lunchtime, from the Café Society chic of Givenchy, to the After 3AM energy of Egonlab. We witnessed both expressions.

Nobody took a bow after the Givenchy show this Wednesday, since it was officially designed by an in-house team. But whoever created it deserved an ovation, because hang it all, this was a poised and impressive collection.

Presented before the Gotha of men’s fashion editors, with barely 100 places, all sat at linen covered café tables with small lobster rolls, truffle covered sandwiches and sweet pastels.

A collection of very French elongated tailoring with plenty of neat experimentation. From the uber high-waist suits in pale blue, to the double-breasted tuxedo, held together with a fifth extra central button. All the way to the natty slant pocket leather safari jackets.

Tapping into a big menswear trend – both in street style and couture – gent’s coats and dusters were trimmed or completely covered in horse tails.

Through the leit motif was a 1953 drawing of a cat by founder Hubert de Givenchy which appeared in pale gray silk tops, smooth coats and white astrakhan overshirts. Several of the cats even had bright orange eyes, a kicky reference to the orange cat in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, simply named Cat by the lovie’s star Audrey Hepburn, Givenchy’s muse.

At times the mood was a teeny bit quaint, like the series of jacquard shirts, and the final embroidered Saharienne. No news yet from the house on the next creative director. But overall, as an in-between collection coming after the departure of Matthew Williams on December 1, and the arrival of his successor, this was a very successful statement.

As possibly the only person in the audience who attended the final collection – with the possible exception of LVMH uber honchos Sidney Toledano and Michael Burke - one could go further in praise. One suspects that le Grand Hubert would have enjoyed this show very much too.

The steady teeming rain that drowned Paris on Wednesday certainly did nothing to dampen the spirits at Egonlab, where the 30-something design duo of Florentin Glémarec and Kévin Nompeix staged a dynamic and dashingly posh punk collection.

Its key was the brilliant range of silhouettes: like power-shoulder Eisenhower jackets with spike collars worn over billowing loon pants. Or single-breasted tuxedo jackets with peak lapels dramatically pinched and nipped at the waist, paired with open scarf-like silk shirts.

Riffing on 80s power suits, but always on their own terms, with oversized jackets that hung perfectly.

All leading to red carpet high-jinks like the coppery vinyl great coat with hundreds of meter-long fringes or the bleached-out degrade jean jacket and jeans cut rockstar style.

“We do love some drama,” smiled Florentin, in a crowded post-show backstage inside the Palais de Tokyo.

Driven on by Russel G’s pounding dance rock track 3AM, this was a great show, and a reminded of how much menswear talent there is on display in Paris.

This duo is so good, they managed to mingle transgressive dressing and posh punk attitude into their strict tailoring with real skill. All the way to the final trio of looks made in a beige Prince of Wales sequined fabric – that was draped and rouched on couture worthy pants and topcoats.

All told, a great statement from two very talented designers with a highly original point of view.

Paris Menswear: Lunchtime at Givenchy, after hours at Egonlab

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