The Coolest Shows From Men's Fashion Week in Paris

Still, this sense of practicality didn’t come at the expense of creativity or artistic expression. Willy Chavarria, the New York-based tour de force, made his Paris debut at the American Cathedral with a bold political statement on community, resilience and unity. Meanwhile, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy brought the house down at Dover Street Market Paris, staging a sprawling 90-minute performance that shifted from rave to voguing, waltzing and even wrestling. The boundary-pushing spectacle, created in collaboration with Pornhub and artist duo Bullyache, epitomized the week’s ability to fuse spectacle with substance.

Below, PAPER recaps the standout moments from Paris Fashion Week Fall 2025.

An enormous crowd gathered outside the American Cathedral of Paris to celebrate NYC mainstay Willy Chavarria’s 10th anniversary show, which also marked his highly anticipated Paris debut. On the elegant Avenue George V, surrounded by the boutiques of Europe’s most prestigious fashion houses, Chavarria again celebrated his Mexican-American heritage, staying true to his mission of bringing dignity to the disenfranchised.

The show opened with looks worthy of Sunday service: exaggerated spread-collar shirts layered under strong-shouldered tailored jackets, with models clutching rosaries and wearing oversized boutonnieres pinned to their chests. The collection then shifted into more casual territory, featuring cropped trench coats, beige chinos, and classic all-American plaids. As the church was bathed in a dramatic red light, a troupe of bare-chested models paid homage to '90s hip-hop, dressed in pescadores-style tracksuit bottoms, oversized leather bombers, and combat boots created in collaboration with Adidas.

This season, Chavarria notably expanded his exploration of womenswear, a relatively new addition to his brand’s universe. “Extremely empowered and in control. Not to be fucked with,” is how the designer described the Chavarria woman. His moodboard included an inspiring roster of musicians, activists and visionaries — including Dolores Huerta, Sade, Sinéad O'Connor, Tilda Swinton, Yoko Ono, Indya Moore and Paloma Elsesser, with the latter two walking the show.

A key theme this season was chiaroscuro, the dramatic interplay of light and shadow commonly associated with Baroque masters. This concept of contrast brought European refinement to Chavarria’s signature American sportswear and tailoring, as he infused the collection with luscious Italian silks, velvets and leathers — materials celebrated for their ability to catch and play with light.

For the finale, the entire cast gathered in front of the flower-covered altar, forming a striking tableau as a recording of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s plea to President Trump echoed through the cathedral. Her call for mercy for immigrants and the LGBTQIA+ community underscored the show’s poignant message. At a time when culture is veering toward conservatism and traditional values, Willy Chavarria’s moving statement of unity in the face of adversity could not have been more timely.

Photos courtesy of Willy Chavarria

“It’s a fascinating time to be a designer. The industry often treats creatives like chess pieces, moved and discarded at will.” Charles Jeffrey Loverboy’s Fall 2025 collection, titled "I Am a Product," reflects on his role as an independent designer in today’s climate, challenging the world’s relentless demand for categorization. Instead, Jeffrey celebrates multitudes, rejecting a clear divide between commerciality and artistry, just as his very presence embodies a fluid approach to gender expression.

Jeffrey’s first outing on the Paris calendar was a Loverboy experience in full effect. Known for his penchant for performance and roots in nightlife culture, he collaborated with London-based artist duo Bullyache on a 90-minute rollercoaster of a show inspired by the decadence of the Victorian fin de siècle and the cabarets of Weimar Berlin. These influences were informed by how past generations dealt with living through dread and decay. Pornhub ambassadors Queenie Sateen and Natassia Dreams commanded the proceedings as ringmistresses, dressed in crocheted and tasseled bodices, their faces painted in iridescent silver and gold.

What followed was best described as one of those heavy nights out that’s actually worth it — a fever dream of waltzing, voguing, raving, mating and wrestling. Raya Martigny, Parisian it-girl extraordinaire, bopped over to us mid-show, her eyes bright with awe, exclaiming, “I’ve never seen anything like this!” The presentation favored atmosphere over showcasing the full collection. A small cast of dancers started off in striped, sharply tailored looks, gradually shedding layers until all that remained were low-slung trousers and shiny boxing singlets, adding a playful and provocative touch to the ensembles.

It was hot, not just because of the physicality of the performers, but because of the confident and unapologetic energy they radiated. A far cry from the statue-like models often found on the Parisian runway, Charles Jeffrey’s Loverboy's recalled the captivating creatures of the night one might encounter in a London warehouse.

In a time of seemingly endless conflict, Jeffrey’s message rang loud and clear by subverting wrestling tropes: What if we all aimed to be less sharp objects and just be kind to one another?

After his unexpectedly pared-back and almost minimalist Spring 2025 collection, Kiko Kostadinov took a dramatic turn for Fall 2025, imagining his muse navigating a harsh, rugged and isolated landscape.

This season, the Bulgarian designer leaned heavily into military tropes, reimagining them with his signature experimental touch. Cropped officer jackets were draped off models’ shoulders or fastened around the waist as improvised skirts. A heavy duty funnel-neck overcoat was treated to let its flocked wool reveal a shimmery camouflage pattern.

The show’s venue, scattered with brittle brown leaves, evoked the melancholic cinematic world of Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. Kostadinov explained, “Tarr's characters exist in worlds where the surroundings — the weather, objects, spaces — are constantly seeping in, accumulating, installing themselves within an individual’s very being and the fabric of their clothes.” This haunting sense of environment bleeding into identity resonated deeply in the collection’s design language.

The collection evoked a sense of generative decomposition, where elements were stripped of their original context and reassembled in unexpected ways. Sleeve patterns found new life as trouser legs, shirt collars framed waistlines, and sweaters were transformed into utilitarian boleros. Adding a touch of surrealism, Hungarian folk motifs, scanned from historic coins and blown up in fluorescent colors, suggested a tribal society from a parallel universe.

Bianca Saunders is redefining how fashion interacts with art, movement and lived experience. For her Fall 2025 collection, "Dichotomy," the London-based designer drew inspiration from Steve Parrino’s slashed canvases and Robert Longo’s "Men in the Cities" — a series of sharply dressed figures captured in exaggerated, twisted poses. These references set the tone for a collection exploring the tension between movement and constraint.

Inspired by Longo’s dynamic interplay of pulls and pushes, Saunders infused otherwise structured garments with the illusion of motion. Ribbed long-sleeve t-shirts featured striped patterns interrupted by intentional creases, while a simple shirt-and-tie combo was rendered in dry, wrinkled poplin, as though just shed from a constrictive jacket. Paper-thin leather trousers bore a crackled treatment, with a twisted pleat seam sewn across the front, adding a sculptural dimension to the pieces.

This exploration extended into the runway presentation, staged at the Palais de Tokyo in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Shanti Bell. Models, tethered to weighted objects, moved deliberately through the space in a poetic metaphor for freedom and restraint. The sheer fabric of the tethers captured a sense of in-real-life motion blur, amplifying the collection’s themes of balance and contrast.

Saunders, who is of Jamaican heritage, recently reconnected with her roots during a trip to the Caribbean, an experience she described as “feeling like a physical merging of past and presence.” This reflection on cultural duality informs her upcoming collaboration with Belgian-Ghanaian photographer Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti on an art publication exploring identity and heritage.

While Saunders has successfully made the leap to Parisian runways, it’s her commitment to multidisciplinary storytelling that gives her universe such resonance. By weaving art, fashion and personal narrative, she continues to expand the boundaries of what a designer can be.

Photos courtesy of Bianca Saunders

There is a new vanguard of menswear designers taking shape, rooted in traditional pragmatism, yet injected with a playful sense of tactility and a refreshing approach to modern luxury. Leaders in this segment are IYKYK names like Meta Campania Collective, Auralee and Rier — under-the-radar labels that have been silently infiltrating niche retailers globally and setting the Throwing Fits subreddit ablaze.

Meta Campania Collective’s Fall 2025 collection is a love letter to British heritage, filtered through a lens of contemporary craftsmanship. Inspired by co-founder Jon Strassburg’s childhood family portrait, the collection leans into luxurious English fabrics — think Shetland wool, corduroy and cashmere — transformed into elongated silhouettes, pleated trousers and tactile shearling jackets. Jewel tones and vibrant checks bring warmth to textural staples like mohair coats and crushed velvet dresses. Strassburg envisions timeless uniforms for the artist-set, crafting garments “without compromise” that mold to the wearer’s individuality.

While Meta Campania celebrates heritage, Auralee offers a lighter, more personal vision. Ryota Iwai described his Fall 2025 collection as “an exercise in styling,” drawing inspiration from the worn-in, relaxed personal style of a close friend. Wardrobe staples — double-faced cashmere coats, soft knits and perfectly faded t-shirts — were rendered in a color palette of bubblegum pinks, sunny yellows and sky blues, adding levity to neutral greys, blacks and browns. Auralee’s uber-luxe materials are designed to last a lifetime, intended to be passed down as future heirlooms. In Iwai’s universe, a perfectly aged t-shirt holds the same gravitas as a cashmere coat.

Similarly, Andreas Steiner, the ex-Prada designer now reinterpreting Tirolean craft to his label Rier, starts each collection with material research. Traditional Loden fabric, a waterproof boiled wool, is a recurring motif in his collections. This season, he imbued his silhouettes with a newfound athleticism, inspired by the rhythmic arm motions made during langlaufing in the Austrian Alps. The designer’s aim is to create pieces that can not be connotated to specific moments in time and place, but have an identity strong enough to stand on their own.

Photos courtesy of the brands

Commission’s Dylan Cao and Jin Kay took their Fall 2025 collection from the office party to the rave, epitomizing their signature blend of East Asian polish with their personal experiences in NYC’s party scene. The designers drew inspiration from their parents’ professional attire in the ’80s and ’90s, imbuing it with a sense of Americana that reflects their cultural duality as children of immigrants.

Knits draped off of models’ necks, leaving shoulders exposed. Crisp white cotton shirts, reimagined as strapless tops tied around the chest, offered a fresh take on day-to-night dressing. The collection conjured the image of a bored clerical worker sneaking out to the nearest warehouse rave on their lunch break, returning to the office with a party bracelet nonchalantly tied around their neck.

It was a clever subversion of classicism, blending notions of "properness" with the raw, lived-in energy of the underground — an authentic reflection of the designers’ own journeys.

Photos courtesy of Commission