Thom Browne show, with models in space suits at Communist Party HQ, closes Paris menswear

Models in space suits close Paris menswear shows

PARIS — U.S. designer Thom Browne’s stellar Paris debut — a cinematic performance piece featuring models in identical space suits and visored helmets — closed the City of Light’s spring-summer 2011 menswear show with an intergalactic bang on Sunday.

Browne’s “Space Odyssey” display seemed destined to become a thing of legend — even in Paris, where the collections tend to be less commercial and the shows more creative than in Milan or New York. Despite the fact that the clothes themselves — shrunken blazers worn with snug Bermuda shorts and knee socks — got a bit lost in the overwhelming mise-en-scene, Browne’s was certainly the most memorable shows at Paris’ menswear week.

Although Lanvin adhered to the basic notion of what a fashion show is and stuck to the script, the much coveted Paris-based label gave men a whole lot to lust for with a collection that was equal parts elegance, sportiness and menace.

Wacky British designer Paul Smith, a die-hard old school rock fan who got his start in fashion hawking tee-shirts at concerts by the Rolling Stones and other mythic bands, delivered a mismatched collection that felt like it was channeling a hung-over ’70s rock star coming to after a long, hard night.

A “Mad Men” vibe permeated the collection at British heritage label Dunhill, where the models, in double-breasted suits and carrying leather briefcases, looked like account executives at Sterling Cooper. They padded the catwalk in pinstripe suits with pocket handkerchiefs poking out, in bow ties or skinny ties, with leather hip flasks — looking like some hungry junior executive angling for Don Draper’s job.

All in all, it was a strong season for Paris menswear designers, who have a reputation for inventiveness. Over the four-day-long displays, they turned out bold looks that either radically mutated the staple of men’s wardrobe — the suit — or dispensed with it entirely. Top trends included jumpsuits, sleeveless vests with plunging V necklines and sensible-but-hideous sandals that looked like they’d feel more at home poolside at a retirement home than on a runway.

Emerging Frenchman Alexis Mabille served up his jumpsuits short and bedazzled them with sequins and applique daisies, while Givenchy’s king of kink, Riccardo Tisci, delivered a sophisticated, subversive tuxedo-jumpsuit hybrid, which he paired with what was quite possibly the season’s most memorable accessory — head enveloping Mexican lucha libre masks in black leather.

Vests were everywhere, lending a hard, don’t-mess-with-me edginess to collections from Dior Hommes’ exercise in minimalism to the post-apocalyptic ware at California-born, Paris-based designer Rick Owens.

Paris designers brushed their fashion scruples aside, opting en masse for Jesus sandals and orthopedic-looking footwear that no mater how you sliced it was just plain ugly.

Much of the fashion glitteratti will remain in Paris through the rarified haute couture collections, where the ever-dwindling labels that still make the extravagant, hand-sewn, made-to-measure creations field their fall-winter 2010-2011 collection.

In addition to fashion editors, stylists and journalists, some of the wildly wealthy women who actually buy couture gowns — with pricetags that start at that of a new car — also attend the over-the-top shows.

THOM BROWNE

It was a moment when absolutely anything was possible: When the four models in matching dark suits, mirrored Ray Bans and slicked back hair took their place behind a conference podium at the French Communist Party’s headquarters, the crowd of habitually jaded fashion insiders faintly buzzed with childlike expectation.

And when the almost the least foreseeable possible thing took place — and the “astronauts” in gleaming white space suits filed into the room — the collective sense of starry-eyed wonder was palpable.

It was a fashion show-cum-performance piece that took one look at the line separating the realm of the normal from that of pure kitsch and shot past it at light speed.

The Communist Party’s space age headquarters had been decked out in French and American flags to resemble the United Nations secretariat, and the show cast the audience of fashion insiders as U.N. delegates attending a news conference to honor the “heroes,” back from a mission in outer space.

“The Blue Danube” — the iconic symphony from “2001: A Space Odyssey” — was piped in as the models traced figure eights through the secretariat and filed out again to remove their space suits in front a scrum of photographers and video cameras. Beneath the blinding white coveralls each wore a shrunken short suit in wild patterns with matching knee socks with loafers.

It was like what the crew members of Apollo missions would have worn golfing in the 1960s — after the outfits had gone through the drier: Abbreviated blazers in primary colors or stripes or shark-and-fish prints and snug-fitting Bermuda shorts.

It was a tour-de-force for Browne, a New York-based designer whose theatrical runway shows have made him a critical hit in the U.S.

The only slight hitch was that the clothes were reduced to mere props in the cinematic display, instead of being its stars.

LANVIN

The label that each season defines what women want gave the men something to covet.

Silk blazers with bulky shoulders and raw seams were paired with tapered, high-water trousers, and plunging V-neck vests were layered over slim knit shorts that looked like the offspring that would result if longjohns and biker shorts were to mate.

Made largely from microfibers and other technical fabrics, the collection was meant to move, and raw-seamed flaps and panels that spiraled down the trousers and jackets quivered as the models tramped down the endless catwalk.

“There’s this fusion between activewear and more classic, elegant tailoring,” menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver told The Associated Press backstage after the show, which was held in a museum at a Paris botanical garden.

Ossendrijver didn’t neglect his accessories, sending out models in orthopedic-looking sandals — a big hit on this season’s Paris runways — and chunky jewelry — chains hung with scythe-like horns that wound, snakelike, round the models’ necks.

“We had a lot of debate about the jewelry: Is it too feminine? Is it butch, is it macho? But in the end, I think that when women can wear pants, men can wear jewelry,” Ossendrijver said.

PAUL SMITH

Smith got into the hungover head of a ’70s rock stars with this collection of tee-shirts and skinny tie-dyed trousers that looked as if they’d been picked at random out of a pile on the floor after a long night of binge drinking.

Low-crotched, tapered trousers in ochre and purple tie-dye were worn with tee-shirts, silk blazers and socks shot with Lurex for a glam touch. Oliver Twist blouses with droopy bows at the neck and long tails were paired with slouchy dress pants with sweatpant elastic at the ankles.

Smith shows traditionally end with rowdy antics, and Sunday’s mix of models and real men — covered in tattoos and some sporting full beards — charged down the catwalk sipping beer from the can as Led Zeppelin blasted overhead.