With the men’s Spring/Summer 2024 season underway, a few notable trends and styles have already risen at the forefront. At first glance, the runways have seen a multitude of pockets, silk shirts, delicate halter-necks, along with the harmonious swapping of silhouettes across both men’s and womenswear, and still, even more pockets. This season’s runways have also delightfully played with proportion by emphasizing the hard exterior lines of a look’s outerwear while nurturing the delicate pieces, such as a deeply cut v-neck silk t-shirt, underneath. While “silent wealth” has been driven into the fashion-minded ad-nauseum, designers who might’ve been focused on more uniform styles in the last season or two seem to be coming up for air, playing with fanciful, albeit subtle, statement pieces alongside simpler bases meant for foundation-building.
Ahead, a rolling look at a few of the week’s biggest shows.
Celebrity friends, family, and gospel at Pharell’s highly anticipated Louis Vuitton debut
More than a year after former Louis Vuitton Creative Director Virgil Abloh’spassing, and following the brand’s most recent collaboratively and guest-designed menswear collections in the absence of a successor, the momentous day of recently named Creative Director Pharrell’s debut for Louis Vuitton marked the season’s open. The show, which took place on Pont Neuf overlooking a view of the Seine, called for top tier A-listers such as Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Beyonce, Jay Z, Lewis Hamilton, Zendaya, and Tyler The Creator in attendance (front row, naturally) to support the musician-turned-head of Louis Vuitton. The collection featured Pharrell’s pixelated interpretation of the house’s signature checkerboard (while his interpretation modernizes previous pixelated iterations introduced by the house, the digitized print has been trending among other designers in recent seasons),alongside textiles inspired by the tonally-innovative artist, Henry James (notable painter of Cicely and Miles visit the Obamas). The BBC’s designer collaborations didn’t stop there — A massive billboard announcing Rihanna’s ambassadorship with the French house was shot by the iconic Keizō Kitajima, whose work is known for his emphasis on liveliness and motion —as fashion should be, too.
Rhude reimagines the riviera wardrobe
The season’s trend of pairing formal silhouettes with lighter materials was invigorated yet again at Rhude’s Spring/Summer show. Honing in on the brand’s interpretation of summer suiting, the collection centered heavily on botanical stripes, swim trunks, and outwear appropriate for more temperate summer conditions, except here, the riviera-bound looks were subverted by blending elements of the traditional tracksuit into its preppier cousin. Amid a sudden departure from the helm of Bally, and a lawsuit debacle in which a Rhude shareholder has accused designer Rhuigi Villaseñor of misappropriation of company funds for personal use, many were surprised to see the brand remain on the show schedule, but according to Vogue Runway, the designer was cool and collected backstage, focusing instead on other brand news, including growing the label beyond its menswear offering into a wider encompassing lifestyle brand.
Melancholy and minimalism at Rick Owens
Set in its usual spot outside Palais des Tokyo, Rick Owens kicked off its Spring/Summer 2024 menswear collection with its characteristic theatrics of towering metal structures and smoke filled air. Not one to shy away from addressing the melancholy in the world, the collection represented a somber and minimalist reflection on the designer’s own personal style and the fashion industry at large. In Owens’ personal show notes, he rejects the idea of extravagant destination shows — Rather than offering escapism, Owens aimed for glamour grounded in reality. The looks that stomped down the runway’s stairs (high-waisted trousers, cropped blazers, giant, padded boots reminiscent of ankle casts, and draped silhouettes alongside the brand’s signature razor-sharp shoulders) were somber, yet technically fascinating, allowing the showgoer and eventual consumer a secret fantasy of the up-close experience.
Amiri departs from denim
Like other historically street-wear heavy brands this season, Amiri relinquished some of its key house elements, such as heavy denim and graphic tees, in exchange for the lighter linen look. This time, the brand focused on light-hearted knits, distressed, yet simultaneously summary shorts, loafers, and large crocheted duffle bags fit for a holiday in the south of France. Meanwhile, feminine touches of decorative flowers sprinkled throughout the looks were a sartorial cherry on top. The cardigans layered over knit polos paired with front pleated trousers echoed an ‘80’s preppy culture referenced across a number of brands as of late. As a result, this season’s Amiri presentation was an introduction to a different lifestyle than the brand’s past.
Rhude reimagines the riviera wardrobe
The season’s trend of pairing formal silhouettes with lighter materials was invigorated yet again at Rhude’s Spring/Summer show. Honing in on the brand’s interpretation of summer suiting, the collection centered heavily on botanical stripes, swim trunks, and outwear appropriate for more temperate summer conditions, except here, the riviera-bound looks were subverted by blending elements of the traditional tracksuit into its preppier cousin. Amid a sudden departure from the helm of Bally, and a lawsuit debacle in which a Rhude shareholder has accused designer Rhuigi Villaseñor of misappropriation of company funds for personal use, many were surprised to see the brand remain on the show schedule, but according to Vogue Runway, the designer was cool and collected backstage, focusing instead on other brand news, including growing the label beyond its menswear offering into a wider encompassing lifestyle brand.
Melancholy and minimalism at Rick Owens
Set in its usual spot outside Palais des Tokyo, Rick Owens kicked off its Spring/Summer 2024 menswear collection with its characteristic theatrics of towering metal structures and smoke filled air. Not one to shy away from addressing the melancholy in the world, the collection represented a somber and minimalist reflection on the designer’s own personal style and the fashion industry at large. In Owens’ personal show notes, he rejects the idea of extravagant destination shows — Rather than offering escapism, Owens aimed for glamour grounded in reality. The looks that stomped down the runway’s stairs (high-waisted trousers, cropped blazers, giant, padded boots reminiscent of ankle casts, and draped silhouettes alongside the brand’s signature razor-sharp shoulders) were somber, yet technically fascinating, allowing the showgoer and eventual consumer a secret fantasy of the up-close experience.
Amiri departs from denim
Like other historically street-wear heavy brands this season, Amiri relinquished some of its key house elements, such as heavy denim and graphic tees, in exchange for the lighter linen look. This time, the brand focused on light-hearted knits, distressed, yet simultaneously summary shorts, loafers, and large crocheted duffle bags fit for a holiday in the south of France. Meanwhile, feminine touches of decorative flowers sprinkled throughout the looks were a sartorial cherry on top. The cardigans layered over knit polos paired with front pleated trousers echoed an ‘80’s preppy culture referenced across a number of brands as of late. As a result, this season’s Amiri presentation was an introduction to a different lifestyle than the brand’s past.
At Dior, Kim Jones returns to his roots
The show opening at Dior was an awe inspiring, theatrical one, in a futuristic, technology-infused kind of way. Models ascended from the floor out of camouflaged trap doors, donning Kim Jones’s most recent carousel of menswear items. The designer’s appointment at Dior came at the height of the luxury fashion streetwear boom, where he became instantly known for spearheading high-end, logo-centric collaborations between the French house and the likes of brands such as Nike and Rimowa. Within the past three seasons, however, as the luxury sector’s obsession with conspicuous consumption yet again peters out, Jones’ designs, too, have returned to an aesthetic not too dissimilar from his early creations under his own namesake brand in the early 2010s. This season, there were hardly any no logos in sight, granting attention instead to the collections pastel-washed, oversized suits, signature embroidered details, and electric pops of accessorized color.
Loewe plays with simplicity
It’s no doubt that between his namesake label and repeated success as creative director at Loewe, JW Anderson is fashion’s current darling child — and for good reason. Always refreshingly self-referential and on the pulse, Loewe’s latest reimagines Anderson’s geometric obsessions. While other creative directors are leaning into the ultimate simplicity, the Northern Irish designer’s subversion of classic outfit elements at Loewe (think unique spins on sweater hemlines, or the lapel on a blazer), allow the clothing to speak for itself, even if paired with with something as standard as Chelsea boots. Fittingly, the show’s coveted front row became home to some of the buggiest names in Hollywood at present, such as Brian Cox (Succession) and Troye Sivan (The Idol).
Kidsuper’s spectacle
Kid Super is no stranger to spectacle, excess, or outrageous design. His past collections have included pieces such as walking, transformable paintings and surrealist prints, while his shows are known to come in the form of mega-productions — Take an auction house, or comedy show, for instance. Even the designer’s Louis Vuitton collaboration show came with a surprise performance by Latin pop sensation Rosalía. But with spectacle comes disorganization, with Kid Super’s door has jokingly become known as one of the messiest doors at Paris Fashion Week. This season, however, attendee feedback indicates Kid Super’s show was marginally less than a massive disaster. Inside, Colm Dillane presented a 25-minute play that explored his shattered psyche. Unfortunately in comparison to past performances, this method was neither coherent enough to display the clothes, nor entertaining enough to excuse the lack of fashion. That being said, the collection, though scattered, was still characteristically Kid Super – Upbeat, a little off kilter, and undoubtedly Dillane.
Marine Serre paints a bigger future for our apocalyptic wonder-kid
Packed to the brim, even the standing sections at
Marine Serre were spilling over the barricades — an indication, if there is any, that a given show is one to pay attention to. Showgoers craned their necks to get a glimpse of the powerhouse lineup taking the runway, including Noah Cyrus, Teyana Taylor, and Brooke Candy. Ever the buzzy affair, and stars such as singer Tommy Cash (covered in hair from head to toe, not unlike Cousin It from The Addams Family) were in attendance. Marine Serre, who is a vocal climate activist, has often been known for her gloomier aesthetic with past shows even depicting oil spills. This season, though the collection heavily focused still on using primarily up-cycled materials (a brand signature), presented a much brighter and cheerier color palette.
At Doublet, athleisure is in, but walking is out
This season, the Tokyo-based brand looked toward the murky future driven by AI. According to the show notes, also auto-generated by a computer, the collection explores rejecting the past, and looking instead toward the jumbled idea of creativity in the future, a non-foreign theme to many brands offering art as a contemplative warning about our increasing use of the artificial intelligence technology. This manifested in the clothing through digitally generated prints, casual tracksuits for the consumer sitting behind the computer, and hoverboards gliding down the runway for when humanity relies on technology so entirely that we no longer walk to show off our clothes.
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