Paris Fashion Week: menswear

Dior Homme, Spring/Summer '09 (scroll down to read the review)
Dior Homme
Kris Van Assche is now into his third season at Dior Homme. Replacing the heavy formality of the past, he proposed a more funky, slightly less elegant look, whilst still maintaining a strongly tailored base. This was probably as much to do with the styling of high top trainers and colourful shades, which masked the ‘purity of youth with a flash of plastic’, as the clothing itself.

Waistcoats and blazers featured abstract geometric panelling - a little like crazy paving - either sewn flat or left open and held together with tack stitches, often exposing a flash of something below.

Van Assche is keen on volume, although the multi-pleat pants were few and far between. Instead he showed batwing shaped kagoules in waxed nylon and sun-ray pleated knits that will work well with other new volumes seen at Prada and Marni.

He also used gathers (seen at Vuitton and Lanvin) to create shape. This he used most successfully on the hems of the new ultra-short blazer, giving a little cocoon-like volume in the back. These pieces had the formality of a blazer and the sportiness of a bomber.