A rare European heatwave framed this season’s menswear edition of Paris Fashion Week. As temperatures soared in the French capital, designers responded to a global luxury slowdown with Spring–Summer 2026 collections that felt measured rather than theatrical. Block colours, versatile garments and utility details took precedence over logos and spectacle, while runways were staged against Paris’s most celebrated landmarks.
Wearable Yet Elevated: Dior’s New Chapter
At Hôtel des Invalides, Jonathan Anderson unveiled his first Dior Homme collection. Front-row guests—Rihanna, Sabrina Carpenter and Robert Pattinson among them—witnessed oversized Bar jackets cinched at the waist, cargo trousers with draping panels and delicate floral embroideries echoing Christian Dior’s Granville garden. Anderson balanced heritage silhouettes with everyday sensibility, signalling a shift from Kim Jones’s theatrical era to refined practicality.
West Meets East at the Pompidou
Pharrell Williams presented Louis Vuitton’s menswear against the Centre Pompidou’s modern façade. Despite a sunset spectacle modelled on India’s Snakes and Ladders game by architect Bijoy Jain, the collection favoured understated dandyism—indigo overcoats, mustard-pleated shorts and hiking-inspired windbreakers paired with bejewelled socks. Jacket motifs nodded to Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited”, reinforcing a playful East-West dialogue.
Academic Elegance: Wales Bonner’s “Jewel”
Grace Wales Bonner marked her label’s tenth anniversary at Lycée Henri-IV in the Latin Quarter with “Jewel”. Collaborations with Anderson & Sheppard and Stephen Jones yielded preppy layers, patent opera pumps and baobab brooches. Sporty knits from Y-3 and sheer, bejewelled shirting underscored her signature blend of British tailoring and streetwear.
Bold Statements in Block Colours
Willy Chavarria opened his Paris debut with a collaboration with the ACLU, referencing migrant deportations through a performance of 35 men kneeling in white T-shirts. The collection then pivoted to retro zoot suits and satin brass coats in pastels. At Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello drew on 1970s Fire Island, pairing mustard, lime and tangerine hues with strong suiting softened by silk pussy-bow blouses. Dries Van Noten’s Julian Klausner explored modular dressing—from sarongs over trousers to mint cummerbunds—blurring formal and casual codes.
From Provence to Versailles: Jacquemus’s Finale
Simon Porte Jacquemus closed the week at Versailles’s Orangery with a homage to his Provençal childhood. Aprons, corseted blouses and tablecloth embroideries in white, eggshell and soft pinks evoked “endimanché”—Sunday best—while leather garlic, strawberry and leek accessories celebrated southern French folklore. The show intertwined personal memory and myth, inviting guests back to Jacquemus’s rural roots amid royal splendour.
All images via www.cnn.com
