For his personal collection, Kris Van Assche worked in his usual palette of black grey, and white, paying particular attention to the male waist. He pinched it in; exaggerated it by tying apron belts around it; and used contrast stitching to highlight a low, dropped belt line. Unfinished raw edges were a motif, as were monochrome shirt/pant pairings suggestive of jumpsuits. The show closed with a series of looks covered in rather beautiful paint splatter.

Around the corner at Comme des Garçons, a collection covered in skulls somehow felt full of life. Shorts came in drop crotch/harem varieties with enough fabric that they often looked like skirts. Sometimes they actually were skirts. The best shows always take an idea, play with it, and tease it out into something complex and multilayered. Use of checkerboard pattern was elaborated into cut outs in the jackets and shirts. Pattern showed through these cut outs, twisting the motif back onto itself. As always, it’s not the surface but what lies beneath that matters.

While the theme song from Lost Boys made up part of the show’s sound track, Givenchy this season felt far more Anne Rice…like something out of the Parisian catacombs of her Isis and Osis worshiping coven of night creatures. Necklaces made of spinal vertebrates were worn outside of shirts. Animal print suits contributed an animist vibe. The tailoring took advantage of the house’s atelier, making use of lace and intricately gathered and crimped fabrics.

Across town, the fashion club kids gathered in a theater for the runway show by designer Romain Kremer. A piece made of criss-crossing orange straps felt reminiscent of The Fifth Element. Exo-skeletal corsets, a white/grey/beige pallet with flouro highlights, and pants with boot-like elasticized calf areas were full-on sci-fi. Some of it might not be wearable, but fashion is supposed to be about the future, right?

For his very “Broadway” version of a menswear show, John Galliano harked back to old Holllywood stars of the slightly campy variety. Think Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The show featured an elaborate backdrop, lighting, and soundtrack, but the highlight was the famous Galliano finale, for which he himself emerged from the giant clock set-piece, and walked the runway with full-on super model panache.

KEYWORDS: Comme des Garcons, Givenchy, john galliano, Kris Van Assche, paris fashion week, Romain Kremer, runway, shows