The Rick Owens faithful, clad in black, gauzy drapes of fabric, congregated in the sun outside the stadium entrance to Owens’s Spring show. No vampires caught fire, but a few came close. Inside, the dark runway was over hung by extensive piping. More on that later. Tall boots to the knees; an emphasis on the waist, such as through dropped tunics; and trailing pieces of sheer fabric, such as windsock like hair wrapsŠno huge departure but all of it worked well. A few sheer tanks with doubled fabric across the chest for modesty were beautiful. The genius cast of models were robotically dystopic in there fast-paced marching, completely ignoring the giant blasts of smoke billowing down the runway. And of course they were impervious to the jets of cold steam blasting from pipes above, jets which scared the bejesus out of a few editors on the front row.

Rick Owens

As would be expected, the Spring collection from Louis Vuitton dealt in subtlety. The fabrics, the hues, the little details like fasteners on pants, the silhouette, all of it supported an idea of simple luxury. But it was in the leitmotif‹tattoos by artist Scott Campbell‹that this collection excelled. A few of the models were actually tattooed themselves, including a couple guys with LV logos on the neck. But the idea of tattooed art showed up through out, including on the leather bags and in the prints.

Louis Vuitton

A steam-filled North African style sauna served as backdrop for Jean Paul Gaultier’s latest. A very homoerotic spectacle: bare chested models massaging each other amidst clouds of steam. The clothes themselves were of course more than tinged with Eastern influence: harem pants, lace-up (or unlaced-up) shirts, billowy light weight fabrics, and the like. Toward the end, the looks featured 3D prints. 1950s red/blue 3D glasses served as the invitation. Pretty cool, but no Avatar.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Shaded by the overhanging Quai d’Austerlitz, and with a nice breeze blowing in off the Seine, Dries Van Noten’s show was a nice way to end the first day of Paris. The opening look (a precision tailored suit jacket paired with shorts) pretty well sums up what was great about this show. Where such a combo can often seems effete on a guy‹in fact much of what you’d call fantasy in menswear often feels too effete‹with Dries it did not. Perhaps the double-breast of the jacket or the cargo-pockets of the shorts made the difference. The heavily bleached denim pieces (pants, jackets, vests, shirts) looked like they’d been painted with clouds, but the balance of blue kept the fantasy in a place that would work for most men. Cloudy jeans worn with a tailored jacket felt almost western and rugged. Similarly the oversized brown leather elbow patches and asymmetric shoulder patches were playful, even fantastical, but still rough and tumble enough not to feminize. And the casting could not have been better. To name a few: Yuri Pleskun, Johannes Linder, Clinton Weber, Jacob Coupe, Cole Mohr, Clement Chabernaud, Dan Felton, George BarnettŠand plenty other VMAN favorites.

Dries Van Noten

Images courtesy of firstVIEW

KEYWORDS: Dries Van Noten, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, paris fashion week, rick owens, runway, shows