Women dressing men

PARIS

Women are increasingly prominent in men’s fashion, breaking through the fabric ceiling that has made the industry dominated by men, and attracted by the sector where some of the most radical changes are taking place.

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Fashion has long been an industry focused primarily on women but run by men, with a 2019 study by PriceWaterhouseCooper showing only 12.5 percent of fashion houses had a female boss.

While change has been slow at the top, the latest men’s fashion week in Paris which concluded Sunday highlighted the number of attractive female designers who have chosen to focus on menswear.

Grace Wales Bonner’s opening night show at the Place Vendome hotel, her first physical event in Paris, was one of the hottest tickets.

Known for his literary references and spotlight on black and minority artists, it’s clear why he’s considered a frontrunner to replace the late Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton.

I chose menswear because I thought there was more room for expression, he told AFP. It doesn’t feel very developed [menswear] sometimes it can be very conservative.

It was well-received, with Bloomingdales men’s director Justin Berkowitz crediting the sharp tailoring… with charming details for a proper private collection.

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Bode, meanwhile, is back in Paris for the first time since the pandemic, with a vintage collection inspired by country America and his mother’s family.

Known for his handmade clothing, often made from recycled materials, he was named menswear designer of the year at the CFDA Awards in 2022.

There were also shows from Frances Marine Serre, who has taken the industry by storm with her unwavering adherence to sustainability, and Britain’s Bianca Saunders, who told AFP she was drawn to menswear because it offered a different canvas on which I could be very exploratory.

Wales Bonner, Bode, Serre and Saunders were all in their early thirties, but more experienced designers such as Gabriela Hearst and Isabel Marant have also launched menswear lines in recent years as the sector has heated up.

Men chase the ideal – today I want to feel like Marlon Brando so I wear a leather jacket, says Hermes shoe designer Pierre Hardy, a longtime collaborator of Veronique Nichanian, who has headed the label’s menswear for 35 years.

Women come with fewer clichés, with an external perspective and are more neutral, she told AFP.

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They have a more reality-focused view, with less distance and less fantasy, agrees Alice Feillard, buying director of menswear at the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette.

The new crop is hot among them Frances Jeanne Friot, who presented her flamboyant collection of bright reds as part of a new arrivals exhibition in Paris.

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