Paris Fashion Week Men's announces a strong line-up

By

Dominique Muret

Published
May 20, 2019

Once again, Paris has confirmed its position as a global leader among menswear fashion weeks. For the upcoming season, Paris Fashion Week Men's has revealed an expanded calendar with no less than 60 runways – up from 56 in January – which will present Spring/Summer 2020 collections over the course of six days from 18 to 23 June. 
 

Givenchy had been expected to return to the Parisian menswear calendar with a runway show but now this won't be happening until next January, the brand having instead decided to relaunch its menswear in Florence with a show on 12 June during Pitti Uomo. 

However, the Parisian programme is no less packed for the label's absence and will notably be welcoming back Palomo Spain, which will kick proceedings off on Tuesday, 18 June, at 11 AM. Led by Spanish designer Adolfo Gomez Palomo, the brand had decided to return to New York to show its collection last season. 

Y/Project, which last showed at Pitti Uomo, will make its Parisian runway comeback the next day, on Wednesday, 19 June, while Lanvin will show on the following Sunday. The label skipped the event last January after the departure of Lucas Ossendrijver, who had been designing the brand's men's ready-to-wear collections for the last 14 years. Celine will bring the week to a close with a show at 8PM on Sunday. 

June's Paris Fashion Week Men's will also welcome four exciting new participants from the world of designer fashion: Bode, Phipps, Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Sies Marjan. Following Paloma Spain's show on opening day, Bode and Phipps are next on the programme to reveal their collections, making their official debut on the Parisian runway calendar. The two new American brands are both among the eight finalists of this year's LVMH Prize, the results of which will be announced soon. 

Having trained at New York's Parsons School of Art and Design, San Francisco-born Californian Spencer Phipps launched his sustainable gender-neutral brand, Phipps, in Paris in January 2018. The former Dries Van Noten menswear designer, who has also served at Marc Jacobs, seeks to create beautiful clothing while also respecting the environment. 

Founded by New York-based designer Emily Adams Bode in 2016, Bode is a menswear brand which uses recycled fabrics in order to create unique patchwork pieces that give off a subtly nostalgic feel. 

Paris will also be welcoming a third American this season: Sies Marjan, who will be presenting its first ever full menswear show in the French capital on Saturday, 22 June. The young brand, launched in 2016 by former head of design at Dries Van Noten, Sander Lak, has already seen success with its women's ready-to-wear, which shows in New York. 
 

 
Finally, Fashion Week attendees will have to wait until Sunday, 23 June to discover Ludovic de Saint Sernin's menswear offering. The label, which was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2018, took home Andam's creative brand prize in the same year. Suffice to say, the 28-year-old designer has already made something of an impression. 

Born in Brussels, he grew up in Africa before moving to Paris at the age of seven, and now splits his time between the French capital and London. A graduate in design from Paris' École Duperré, the designer spent time at Saint Laurent before joining Balmain's womenswear design studio under the creative direction of Olivier Rousteing, and ultimately launching his own menswear line in 2017, offering up a sensual men's wardrobe that subtly balances sophistication and eroticism, and, above all, celebrates the male form. 

On the programme of official presentations, it's also worth noting the arrival of Japanese labels Auralee and Visvim, as well as Casablanca, led by Franco-Moroccan designer Charaf Tajer. Other highlights include French collective Gamut and Lazoschmidl, which was founded in 2014 by the Swedish-German duo Josef Lazo and Andreas Schmidl, and showed off calendar in Paris in January, not to mention Hungarian designer Sandra Sandor's Nanushka brand, and Rhude a streetwear label founded in Los Angeles in 2013 by young Filipino-born designer Rhuigi Villaseñor.