Mexican masks, retro futuristic suits hit Paris

[June 26, 2010]  PARIS (AP) -- Who says menswear is boring? Paris designers on Friday challenged that notion, fielding retro, futuristic and kinky spring-summer 2011 men's collections featuring skorts, jumpsuits and even Mexican lucha libre masks that completely enveloped the models' heads.

Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci was on top of his subversive S&M game with head-to-toe leopard print and skort-cum-lacey blouse looks given an en extra dose of perversion by vertebrae necklaces and the leather lucha libre masks.

At John Galliano, the stars of silent film walked again. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton lookalikes emerging from the innerworkings of a giant clock to strut the catwalk in urban variations on "The Tramp'"s black suits.

Yves Saint Laurent's Stefano Pilati was all about the waist, fitting the ample '50s-inspired suits with obi belts and strange, misplaced cummerbunds in leopard knits.

Kris Van Assche paid homage to the working man with a collection that channeled blue collar professions from mechanic to butcher. The young Belgian will show another collection on Saturday for Dior Homme, where he designs menswear.

Emerging French designer Romain Kremer fielded retro-futuristic suits worthy of the cast of the original "Star Trek." Jesper Borjesson's second menswear effort at Cerruti was the tamest show of the day, with classic, well-cut suits sure to please professional men who can't show up at work in intergalactic garb or leather S&M staples.

Paris's menswear shows move into their second-to-last day on Saturday with displays by Kenzo, saddlemaker Hermes and emerging talent Damir Doma.

GIVENCHY

Tisci is still the king of kink.

At Givenchy, cat men in head-to-toe leopard print suits and matching pointed shoes shared the catwalk with models in skorts with priest-collar vests. Tisci also delivered an elegant but subverted take on the jumpsuit, a hot item on Paris' menswear runways, serving up onesies that looked as if they were channeling tuxedos.

Tisci, an Italian whose S&M aesthetic has won him critical acclaim, had edged away from his signature hardcore look in seasons past, delivering more ethnic-inspired collections. But Friday's display, held in a gilded and mirrored hall in central Paris, put him firmly back in kinky territory.

Really, who besides Tisci could get away with pairing a razor cut black business suit with a face-shrouding leather mask fitted with bugged-out fly eyes?

JOHN GALLIANO

Models in twitching faux mustaches and bowler hats sported urban interpretations of "The Tramp'"s black suits -- microfiber jackets paired with drop-crotched pinstripe shorts. Rope belts, dangling pocket watches and dandified suspenders were the season's must-have accessories.

Standout looks included a Buster Keaton lookalike in a razor-cut gray suit and a little, flat straw hat and a jumpsuit worn with briefs in fish-printed silk.

The show was held inside a former bank on Paris' tony Place Vendome, a windowless vault of a space that with the warm weather and crush of bodies turned into a sauna. Makeup dripped down faces that had taken hours to prepare as the audience of fashion editors, stylists and journalists melted as they waited for the show to begin.

But as soon as the show-cum-spectacle started, all was forgiven. And when Galliano himself emerged from the inner workings of the timepiece, strutting his stuff in a wife-beater and bluejeans, the sweat-soaked crowd roared with approval.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

The French heritage house looked to the 1950s for a collection of crisp, belted pantsuits and high-waisted shorts paired with jaunty toques and sensible sandals.

Designer Pilati sent out beautifully tailored blazers in nubby brown and oatmeal fabrics, cinched tight at the waist with patent leather belts or obi belts that looked like misplaced cummerbunds. Short shorts, cut high through the waist and with generous front pleats, were worn with thin, short-sleeved sweaters.

Some of the models, with slicked back hair and horn-rimmed sunglasses, wore bizarre but somehow compelling swaths of leopard print knit around their midriffs. Jaunty little toques, like shrunken fezzes, and sandals that looked like they'd be grandpa's Florida pool-side favorites, topped off the looks.

ROMAIN KREMER

France's Romain Kremer was lost in space with a retro-futuristic collection of colorblock shorts, skirts and briefs that looked like they could outfit the crew of the original Star Trek. Microfiber culottes were fitted with elastic bands at the waist that conjured a back brace; orange crosswalk guard vests were paired with lame Speedos. The show closed with models in wide-brimmed straw hats hung with full-body veils in iridescent fabrics and worn over tiny leotard to resemble futurists beekeepers in scuba gear.

CERRUTI

For his second menswear collection at Cerruti, designer Borjesson delivered clean, classic suits in somber microfibers, paired with leather jackets and overcoats. It was a cool, confident collection that looked sure to please professionals casting about for something they really could wear to work.

FRANCK BOCLET

Frank Boclet, who recently left his post as menswear designer at foundering Paris label Emanuel Ungaro, launched his own signature line, a mix of dandified suits and separates with a rocker edge. Boclet, a Frenchman who cut his teeth at suitmaker Smalto, served up classic blazers with a twist -- like metal piping along the lapel or a detachable flap that winds around the front for an edgy twist. Boclet said he plans to sell the line at multi-mark stores, starting in France, Russia and Ukraine.

[Associated Press; By JENNY BARCHFIELD]

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