While Paris is known as the capital of chic, rich lady clothes, this season at Paris Fashion Week Mens we saw some pretty wild looks on the runway. We chatted with five designers who showed some of our favorite forward-thinking clothes: the visionaries behind Sacai, Facetasm, Namcheko, Angus Chiang and Henrik Vibskov.
CHITOSE ABE, DESIGNER SACAI
Sacai Fall '18
Tell us about your show and inspiration.
Being true to one's beliefs, and reiterating that I have always stuck to the Sacai identity I have built.
What music was the soundtrack?
Steven Reich and more modern pop versions of music like that with the finale by Femi Kuti.
Do you remember when you decided you want to be a fashion designer?
My mother was a seamstress, so I was always surrounded by clothes. When I was in elementary school, I discovered that there was such a profession as a fashion designer and I was determined to become one.
How would you describe the look of your collection?
The core of my collection has always been based on the concept of hybridization – juxtaposition of classic and traditional aspects of items that turns into something completely new. I also wanted to show that my work is always multifaceted.
Who would you most love to dress?
There isn't one specific person, but someone who has a strong sense of individuality.
With so many changes happening in fashion right now where do you see fashion's place in the world?
For me, this is why I was inspired by the New York Times campaign of the "Truth." — keeping it pure, and true to yourself and your beliefs.
HIROMICHI OCHIAI, DESIGNER FACETASM
Facetasm Fall '18
Tell us about your show and inspiration.
The title is "EMOTION." The feeling of aggravation enough to make your body shiver; the feeling of disappointment that rips out your soul; the feeling of sorrow beyond words; the feeling of profound bliss that slowly arises; the feeling of peace as a tear falls down your cheek. As we grow older, we begin to hide these pure emotions that we once so strongly felt as kids. Then suddenly, these emotions come pouring out, as if a flood hit a broken dam. We forget about logic, about ourselves, and like a raging storm out of control, these feelings whirl and swirl together within. These emotions, the types that even surprise ourselves, became the inspiration for this collection — one that represents the moment a strong heart rises or drifts. We wanted to capture that essence, and imprint that feeling directly onto the clothes.
What music was the soundtrack?
We used a soundtrack from Boredoms, which I have been a fan of for a long time. It's my music roots.
Do you remember when you decided you want to be a fashion designer?
I always like clothes, so I naturally started to want to become a designer.
How would you describe the look of your collection?
We were able to show our new face, which we have never shown.
Who would you most love to dress?
There is no-one particular.
With so many changes happening in fashion right now where do you see fashion's place in the world?
It changes people's emotion because clothes are most close-near to the body.
DILAN LURR, DESIGNER NAMACHEKO
Namacheko Fall '18
Tell us about your show and inspiration.
Our show had its base of inspiration in the venue building, Espace Niemeyer. For the collection, we wanted to create something futuristic but also romantic, as futuristic references usually can come out as very hard-edged and cold. So we started to look at these colors that the english artist Francis Bacon uses for the background of his painting and used the ones that we could translate into positive feelings.
What music was the soundtrack?
We used three different songs: "Lost City" by El Dorado, "Anticipation" by John Beltrand, "Utopia" by Affex Twin. As you notice by their names, they're already very relevant with our references and the sort of emotion we wanted to evoke with the collection. We wanted relaxing sounds, and wanted to make the audience comfortable. Those three songs were all very calm, which makes the audience focus on the garments. [That was] very important to us since we work a lot with details that you can only see on closer inspection.
Do you remember when you decided you want to be a fashion designer?
I was very interested in fashion, but I didn't plan to become a fashion designer. At age 27 I decided with my sister Lezan to do a small collection and short movie as a sort of homage to our cousins in Kirkuk Kurdistan, which is our birth city. It was not necessarily meant to start a label, but then we had a very positive feedback and felt that we had more stories to tell and more subjects to research into. Then you also have the rapid pace of fashion, which is very appealing [to me].
Who would you most love to dress?
I never really think about someone to dress specifically. However, as a very young label we are of course very curious to see for each collection how the final customer uses the pieces and wears the collection.
With so many changes happening in fashion right now where do you see fashion's place in the world?
I am myself kind of far removed from the fashion scene, so I can´t really say that I feel changes. We, as a team, are in our own kind of space since we are a small team and we work into our research in a very intense way. As for fashion´s place in the world, I think that we are moving to a very individual-based fashion; trends do not necessarily exists anymore.
ANGUS CHIANG, DESIGNER ANGUS CHIANG
Angus Chiang Fall '18
Tell us about your show and inspiration.
Taiwan has a special nickname, "Island of Scooter," and it is our main inspiration for this season. The design concept illustrates a scooter rider's behavior — clothing style and color — while also integrating a scooter's contour lines and street signals. According to this concept, the collection also endows the freedom of riding through the wind, and pieces together with the imagery of "Dream Chasers." It documents the people who are chasing after their dreams on this piece of land, and reevaluates the value of scooters and the special feelings people have for them.
What music was the soundtrack?
The runway show music is by a Taiwan indie band, Sorry Youth. They mashed-up the songs "Route 17," "Friends," "Shouldn't Be Dreamless," and "Undercurrent." The track, "Shouldn't be Dreamless," was remixed for ANGUS CHIANG to interpret this season's core concept of dream and hard work. Let the diligent spirit of hardworking Taiwanese people be fully shown at the runway show.
Do you remember when you decided you want to be a fashion designer?
I didn't focus on fashion design at the beginning. I focused on computer graphics and media communication before college. Originally, I [wanted] to keep studying them in university, but accidentally needed to study fashion design at first in order to transfer my major to communication and media studies. [This] is how I started to understand the direction of my career.
How would you describe the look of your collection?
The collection involves the core concept of Angus Chiang: humor, colors, and fun.
Who would you most love to dress?
I would like to make our clothes to be dressed by American rock band, OK GO. Their lovely songs and creative music videos make me so impressed. I believe there are so many humorous and playful things that we can try and create.
With so many changes happening in fashion right now where do you see fashion's place in the world?
Maintaining our own direction and always doing the best are very important. No matter how the change would be, I think we all have to keep in mind the same faith and passion, so that we can easily understand the change in fashion and still keep on the path of our dreams.
HENRIK VIBSKOV, DESIGNER HENRIK VIBSKOV
Henrik Vibskov Fall '18
What music was the soundtrack?
In mid-December, I was watching a Norwegian killer serial drama called Monster up in the snow of Norway. About six hours into the movie, there was a two-minute long stretch of music made by a Norwegian composer called Magnus Beite I think the track is called "Soap Bubble." That was put together with music by a German Composer Nils Framh, and then we added extra strings to bring it together. It was edited by a guy called Bastian Zieselmair. We used a lot of time in the styling with the music. It fit with all of the strings, poetic, and the melancholic style of music.
Do you remember when you decided to be a fashion designer?
Yeah, but I didn't really decide. I ended up at [Central] Saint Martins. Then suddenly I was just finished 4 years later and there was a lot of press writing about my graduation. I met some people in France who asked me to join the Hyeres Festival, and at the festival I met some people from Paris who thought I should do something there. Suddenly, I was on the show schedule and have done about 30 shows in Paris. It's not because I had a masterplan, but it just happened somehow through meeting different people.
How would you describe the look of your collection?
For this season, we worked together with a Japanese stylist that we also used for a Tokyo show in October. He came up and did a bit of a different style with mixed layers, [and] sweaters outside of the jackets. We also worked with make-up lines — skin tapes [and] muscle tapes in different colors. So we used that for the make-up look.
Who would you most love to dress?
I think Christopher Walken is cool, or David Bowie would have been nice. I actually don't know and maybe don't care so much.
With so many changes happening in fashion right now, where do you see fashion's place in the world?
I think one of the reasons why I will still keep doing fashion is because it's one of the creative niches that reflects very fast. It's one of the strongest, compared to a musician that maybe works an album and it takes two years. With clothing, it's reflecting over six months. You can put a lot of thoughts, ideas, political attitude, or messages on culture, and religion. I think that is the strongest part of the fashion scene because it can quickly reply to all those movements. There is also a lot of ignoring things and bad attitude in the fashion industry, but mostly I meet good people that care a lot. [Just as] the world is changing, [so is] the industry.
Photos via Getty