Fashion and politics come together at the Paris men's fashion week

Fashion and politics come together at the Paris men's fashion week

The Paris Fashion Week for men's fashion began one day after the second inauguration of US President Donald Trump and in the course of the growing influence of the populist right in France. Under these circumstances, the focus on clothing could initially appear trivial.

social issues in focus

Nevertheless, the designers showed their commitment to larger social issues throughout the week. They addressed inclusivity, protection and freedom and messengers for the autumn winter 2025 season a platform to both relax and present ideas to deal with the current social climate.

by Willy Chavarria to Egonlab to Comme des Garçons Homme Plus were sent messages of unity and acceptance over the catwalks. Carole Boinet, director of the French cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, told CNN: "If the French population feels more and more powerless in view of the government, the soft power of fashion, as industrial and art, lies in its ability to produce new discourses and pictures and influence other industries."

modern workwear reinterpreted

On the catwalks, the work clothes celebrated a comeback, reinterpreted and merged with contemporary wardrobes. Hairy models in checkered shirts and raw denim fabrics ran over the catwalk of Junya Watanabe and reminded of the 2010 hipster aesthetics, which was found in youth subcultures and became a global phenomenon.

But it was the "good old work clothes that was originally produced for forest workers", as noted in the show notes that the Japanese designer had in mind. The collection reflected the topics of the season: nature and functionality of the outerwear.

At Louis Vuitton, the creative director of men's fashion, Pharrell Williams, worked with Nigo, the designer of Kenzo and founder of the Japanese brand A Bathing Ape. They designed a collection that combined work clothes and sports clothing. Inspired by the practical wardrobes of engineers, chefs and gardeners, the clothes included an indigo-blue, double buttoned denim jacket, a striped box-cut ensemble and a baby-colored sleeveless blouson jacket, which was also elegant and practical at the same time.

a stage for protest

During the week, designers used their platforms to make political and social statements. The designer Willy Chavarria, who is based in New York,, winner of the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year Award, presented his collection for the first time in Paris to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his label of the same name. In the baroque backdrop of the American cathedral, he showed sculptural, reworked tailoring pieces, which were again inspired by his Mexican-American background and appeared in a range of gold, plum and burgundy.

As Chavarria told CNN, the focus of his collection was at the center of resilience and resistance. He wanted to formulate a "message for human dignity and equality" and emphasized: "It is important that we come together to keep our rights as a citizen, as immigrants, as LGBTQ people and as women, because we are all very attacked."

The creative duo Florentin Glémarec and Kevin Nompeix behind the gender -neutral label Egonlab presented playful Victorian accents and presented clothing that challenged traditional masculinity. Behind the scenes, the designers explained their focus on marginalized communities. "Minorities are systematically attacked worldwide," they said, called on "to unite minorities and fight against inequality."

fashion and war protest

At the Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, the Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo dealt with the topic of war. Your collection entitled "To Hell With War" presented deconstructed military basics, torn Khaki uniforms and military boots. Models wore newly interpreted helmets that were decorated with flowers and reminded of the Flower power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, in which protesting positive values such as peace and love put in the foreground in their struggle for freedom.

Charles Jeffrey, the founder of the London fashion house Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, was inspired by the Weimar cabarets in Berlin. With exaggerated stage make-up, homoerotic, banana-shaped accessories and a shell-like effect on the clothing, the designer-who opened the show in high-heels and spoke to the audience-embodied the roots of his brand in nightlife culture. For Jeffrey it was "an opportunity to bring people together ... when right -wing governments say: 'There are only two genders' ... we are a variety of things."

A look behind the scenes of fashion

Some designers chose an introspective approach and focused on the stories that are embedded in clothing and tailor details, which are often overlooked in cameras. Dior's collection referred to the H-line that its founder Christian Dior designed for the autumn winter 1954-1955-a controversial silhouette at the time, since its flat form of some was perceived as inevitable. Models with dramatically covered eyes appeared in a cinematic setting, in the style of Stanley Kubrick's erotic psychodrama "Eyes Wide Shut" from 1999. The collection also experimented with contrasting volumes from wide male skirts to opera stuffs and grinding with tender pink.

Bianca Saunders, the first black British designer who won the renowned andam fashion price, looked at the tension between restriction and movement as well as between smoothness and strict. Shirts were crumpled, the seams of the pants turned and knotted their ankles.

Inspired by Robert Longo's photography, which captures men and women in exaggerated, wounded movements, she noted that it inspired by “the very structural men's fashion that was pushed and pulled, and all this subtle turning of things ... the adherence to movement and slowness in the garment."

Craftsmanship and experimentation were also the focus of Rick Owens ’Show in the Palais de Tokyo. Faithful to his style distorted and overcurrent Owen's shape of the body and radically played with techniques and textures. The "DracuCollar" jackets made of waxed leather, "Megacrust" jeans with a crust that is achieved by pressing bronze film and wax on Denim, and even Kempel, an environmentally friendly and subversive material that is also known as "dead hair". How often with Owens, the fashion knows no limits.