Paris Fashion Week: menswear

Lanvin, Spring/Summer '09 (scroll down to read the review)
Lanvin
Another strong showing from Lanvin Homme, that earned artistic director Alber Elbaz and his man-in-charge-of-menswear Lucas Ossendrijver a standing ovation, orchestrated or at least begun by Kayne West from the front row (West is a man who knows, he told us he is a loyal Wallpaper* subscriber).

For summer, Ossendrijver has moved things on a little, probably necessary now, since Lanvin Homme has become the single most influential menswear collection over the last few seasons. In place of all the silky feminine fabrics of the past (that everyone else is now using), he wanted to explore more technical cottons and nylons that had a dry and crisp handle.

He started by asking Lanvin’s tailors to work with elastic, which shrunk down the larger volumes he was working with, giving a tension to the pieces and at the same time giving added comfort. This was a development of last season’s boys-growing-up-too-fast look.

The collection was also lighter than in the past: Ossendrijver added hats that he said were like 'accidents' or 'souvenirs', which gave the collection the feel of a fun memory.