Here’s everything you missed from a bumper month of men’s shows Menswear

Since the menswear season began this month, there’s been an awful lot to catch up on, so we’ll forgive you if you’re a bit behind. Things kicked off over in Florence with Pitti Uomo, where MM6 Maison Margiela took us back to the sleazy 90s, which was then followed by a pared-back Milan Fashion Week, with some standout moments from Saul Nash, Mrs Prada, and an actual real-life wedding at JordanLuca’s show.

Editors then hopped on their EasyJet flights to the French capital, just in time to see Pharrell welcome them with a Nigo-assisted Louis Vuitton men’s show. In general, Paris Fashion Week was a lot busier than its Italian counterpart, with mainstays like Rick Owens, Kiko Kostadinov and Comme des Garçons delivering stellar collections, as you might expect. Elsewhere, the crown prince of French fashion Simon Porte Jacquemus returned to the official schedule with his latest show, Willy Chavarria brought out an all-star cast for his own Paris debut, and Louis Gabriel Nouchi planned to dress us for dystopia with his Orwell-referencing show. For everything else you might’ve missed over the past month, scroll through our round-up below.

Bianca Saunders returned to Paris to show her AW25 men’s collection this season, delivering a presentation-cum-performance piece titled Dichotomy. Saunders’ collection was inspired by photographer Robert Longo’s famous series, Men in the Cities, which coincidentally was just recreated by Nicole Kidman for W Magazine’s art issue.

“I was thinking about the idea of capturing constraint but also capturing movement at the same time,” Saunders told Dazed. Long tendrils of stretch fabric were attached to models at one end and weighted on the ground at the other, meaning models pulled on and twirled with the materials – sort of like chewing gum getting stuck to the bottom of your shoe, yet upscaled and beautiful. The clothes themselves kept within the theme of dichotomy: soft wool contrasted reflective leather, rigid masculine jackets were swaddled by feminine, knitted wrap-arounds, and stripes clashed with checks. What’s not new for Saunders, however, was her use of classic tailoring, which is the backbone of all her collections.

Italian designer Domenico Formichetti only launched his label PDF in 2023, but it’s already been seen on the backs of Doja Cat, Drake, Central Cee and Rihanna. It’s probably something to do with the fact that he’s been styling celebrities for years, or maybe it’s down to the success of his previous brand, Formy. But, most likely, the fact that PDF brings a boldness to Milan Fashion Week that isn’t really offered by any other brands on the schedule.

Straight out the gate on the PDF runway was Formichetti’s Napapijiri collab – an oversized pullover anorak in a washed-out stone, with matching baggy trousers. Then came filled puffer hoodies with roomy denim below, PDF branded sweatbands, backwards fitted caps and a coach jacket made from spongy tracksuit material. Formichetti’s take on NY streetwear codes were given an ostentatious Milanese twist, with bandana prints splashed across every other garment, and basketball jerseys appearing as blown-up oversized knits.

For AW25, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana decided to switch up the vibe completely, making a complete 180 from their last Milan men’s show. Whereas SS25 was all about beachy craftsmanship and days at the shore, this season the design duo went all in on the glitz and glamour of being hounded by photographers for their show Paparazzi.

With a bay of suited photographers flanking the runway, models emerged to a flurry of flashbulbs in luxurious, floor length faux-fur and ostentatious leopard print coats. Baggy denim directly channelled the 2000s era of paparazzi photos à la Jamie Dornan and Keira Knightley, while the faux-fur continued to feature heavily throughout, as cuffs on oversized denim jackets, lining the inside of parka coats, or cut into fluffy fleeces and gilets. After a greyscale section of baker boy caps and tweed slacks – echoing the 60s origin of the term paparazzo – the label then returned to their tried and true evening wear, with a selection of slick black suits and sparkling brooches.

Like Saunders, Issey Miyake’s AW25 men’s offering was based around notions of movement. Similarly to most Miyake collections, the clothes themselves were less about each individual garment, and more so about the shape, bounce, swish and overall movement of each look on the body. Unlike previous Miyake collections however, this wasn’t the usual Homme Plissé show, but rather, the first catwalk show for IM Men – the final branch of Issey Miyake created by the man himself before his death in 2022. Like McQueen’s most iconic show ‘13’, this catwalk also featured two giant robotic arms (though Shalom Harlow wasn’t being spray painted by them).

At Lagos Space Programme’s latest presentation, a Parisian rock band played while guests perused the new collection. If you hadn’t already guessed, designer Adeju Thompson had been inspired by his love of the genre for AW25, creating the collection Rock & Roll Consciousness by delving into his past. “I was always searching for music that spoke to me, music that felt like it understood the outsider’s experience,” said Thompson. “That’s the heart of this collection – creating garments that express vulnerability and beauty in new, delicate ways.” With a design ethos that took cues from the “emotional energy found in legendary acts like the Velvet Underground,” Thompson presented a concise and poetic vision whose beauty lay in its details, like the heart-cut out on a plain white vest, or the golden amulets hanging from models’ necks.

Hed Mayner is known for his oversized fits (he seems to be the only man in Paris giving Demna a run for his money), but this season the Middle Eastern designer took things to the absolute max. AW25’s opening look, a double-breasted grey pinstriped suit, cascaded from its model in an almost comical fashion, engulfing his body in a blazer that attempted to touch his knees. The look was then followed by billowing leather slacks and more huge suits, while the proportion play continued via a green parka coat, shaggy looking knitwear, and sweatpants fashioned from a picnic blanket.

At the catwalk, show notes explained how the designer is well aware of the intensity of his sizing. “The extremity of opulent proportion – the comfort zone, what Mayner knows well – is rendered in more experimental textile,” read the statement, in reference to the expansion of the designer’s material palette in comparison to previous seasons. “The oversized is swooping, playful,” continued the show notes. “A collaging, moulding, reshaping.”

For Egonlab’s AW25 show, designers Kévin Nompeix and Florentin Glémarec were inspired by the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, using that event as a metaphor for the continued persecution of LGBTQ+ voices today. In show notes, the duo explained how the collection would attempt to “denounce the exclusionary mechanism that affects our society today” and clarified that “witch hunts are now represented by the attacks on minorities and marginalised voices”.

Though it’s an undoubtedly righteous subject to tackle, how does that hefty theme translate to a fashion show? In this case, things began with an all black colour palette to match the witchy theme, with giant shaggy ruffs, blouson sleeves and fringed, leather accessories quickly appearing on the runway. But rather than present a collection of on-the-nose occult references, Nompeix and Glémarec channelled their inspiration through the jarring textures and worn-out materials of the collection, in order to, as they say, “capture the very fragility of our existence”.

Elusive Japanese brand Undercover showed its AW25 collection via a presentation in Paris this season, inspired mostly by music. Named after the 1977 album Interface by electronic French trio Heldon, a musical undercurrent was present throughout the garments. The Interface album cover was printed on jackets, while the logo of rock band Faust (the ‘German Beatles’) appeared several times. Precise tailoring in mostly monochromatic shades was crowned by a light-up glowing halo in some cases, meanwhile tartan often made a playful, unexpected appearance. Bejewelled gloves and matching caps added some sparkle — though Jun Takahashi’s Undercover collections often do sparkle, even without jewelled additions.

Charles Jeffrey’s namesake brand may be called LOVERBOY, but for AW25 the Scottish designer was up for a fight. When press arrived at this season’s presentation, they were met with a boxing ring in the middle of the space, its ropes constructed in a tacky, latex material, and some whacky LOVERBOY characters tussling in the middle. While designing the collection guests saw on the wrestlers, Charles had become “fascinated by the tension between playfulness and existential gloom,” and so Fight Night was born, a “one-night-only display of British bombast and balderdash in the heart of Paris.” Designed to bring a slice of the queer underground to Paris Fashion Week, models grappled with one another in banana skin boots, frilly skater skirts, and a striped blazer that looked like a Quality Street.

Though this season’s Paris Fashion Week was damped by an unseasonable bout of non-stop rain, you can always count on Yohji Yamamoto to keep you covered. For AW25, the octogenarian designer only had one thing on his mind, and that was to protect you from the elements in his longline puffers, waterproof headdresses and bulky, padded trousers. Featuring a runway appearance from Italian pop star Mahmood, the collection reinterpreted classic outerwear in a very Yohji way. Peacoats were constructed from water-resistant panels, blazer-puffer hybrids were splashed with nebulous prints, while other puffer coats were made from (admittedly not very practical) corduroy suede.

After taking a sojourn into eveningwear for SS25, Junya Watanabe returned to the workwear codes of AW24 with his latest collection. For the most part, the designer’s AW25 show was a collaboration with Filson, the US workwear company founded in 1897, loved by both genuine tradesmen and Seattle hipsters alike. The Mackinaw Cruiser jacket, Fillson’s most iconic garment, was at the centre of that collaboration, described in show notes as “something real… Something that has history.” And on his Paris Fashion Week catwalk, Watanabe dared to ask how many times one designer can make the same jacket – and the answer was a lot! Variations in suede, flannel, waxed cotton and leather appeared on the catwalk, as did bright orange versions, as well as navy blue and classic beige. The jackets were mostly worn with shirts and ties underneath, and in introducing some classic prep, Watanabe actually managed to subvert a well-worn, workwear staple.

Hermès’s AW25 men’s collection was all about Inhabiting Time. Show notes laid out at the grand show space likened the phrase to “[entering] a garment as you would a house, to dress with the feeling of being welcomed”. However you’d like to interpret it, the collection seemed to take solace in the refined classics of menswear, suggesting that existing in those garments was its own version of living in the moment – ie Inhabiting Time. The many supple leather jackets turned out to be a standout of the show, while balaclava-jumpers sweetly cocooned models’ faces, and geometric quarter-zips were offhandedly rolled at the sleeve.

Even after all this time, adidas and Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3 show is still one of the coolest tickets in town, no mean feat for a 23-year-old sportswear collab. This season’s frow boasted the likes of A$AP Nast and Kano, while the runway saw appearances from influencer/model Gabriette and a man called Djibril Cisse, who I’m told is an iconic French footballer.

As the show began, a swathe of all-black looks appeared first, longline coats and baggy trousers in technical, sporting nylon. These were soon replaced by a section of sunburst prints, which was followed by a collab with the Japanese brand Neighbourhood, who presented a capsule of moto jackets and suits, the latter worn by Gabriette and unzipped to her waist. After that, a monochromatic section then appeared to close the show, with the classic 3 stripes tastefully laid across floppy hats or around the cuffs of trousers.