The new issue of 10 Men has arrived – FUTURE, LEGACY, HERITAGE – hitting newsstands September 25. Our first cover stars rising actor and Dior favourite, Paul Kircher – shot by Pascal Gambarte and styled by Julian Ganio.
For a peek inside the issue, read Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou’s editor’s letter below:
Heritage and legacy seemed such a natural theme for this AW26 issue. Menswear’s sartorial codes go back centuries. But the challenge for designers who decide to identify and home in on them is to explore how to modernise them and bring them into the future.
There are, of course, elements of familiarity with menswear. The dial never moves dramatically from season to season, but what the men’s collections are brilliant at doing is making tiny details go a long way. A subtle tweak of proportion, fresh fabrication, colour or functional element changes everything. These shifts may seem small, but they go a long way towards pushing the new season collections forward and giving them a nowness. It doesn’t scream from the hilltops; instead, it quietly whispers into the ear of the consumer like a familiar phrase or a smell that’s slightly nostalgic and reassuring, but always has a twist. So, this issue, while focusing on heritage and legacy, is also inherently about creating the future.
We’ve made space in this issue for fashion’s most knowledgeable voices. The brilliant author Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni interviews respected fashion historian and curator, Olivier Saillard, one of the most compelling storytellers of our time. They discuss his process when creating a new exhibition or performance piece.
Andrew Groves was a 1990s enfant terrible of fashion, famously designing a razorblade dress that Isabella Blow once wore straight off his catwalk. He’s now professor of menswear systems at the University of Westminster and director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, a huge collection dedicated to the history of menswear. He reflects on collecting as a way of dealing with memory, absence and what gets left behind. He moves between his own archive, personal collecting and photography as a way of preserving things that cannot physically be retained.
Tony Marcus takes on the idea of heritage in fragrance, discussing how perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena worked with the heritage of Hermès and transcended it to create Terre d’Hermès in 2006. Terre represented a radical break with the tradition of masculine fragrances like Eau de Hermès, which relied on their musk, spice and leather notes to suggest traditional masculine virtues of virility or animalistic energy. As Tony says, “With Terre he created a ‘masculine’ that wants to be beautiful. There is nothing harsh about this perfume. There is no musk. There is no aggression.”
Of course, the fashion well offers a rich exploration of what inspires us from this season’s collections. I’m inspired by the way Jonathan Anderson approaches heritage and recontextualises it for today. His AW26 collection channels not only Dior‘s sartorial elegance but the early-20th-century couturier Paul Poiret. At Louis Vuitton, Pharrell‘s brilliance is expressed in his ability to reflect the culture of our times with craft of the highest order. His vision is modern, but he’s creating the heirlooms of tomorrow.
We also profiled 10 designers wearing their favourite suits. It was such an interesting feature to put together and it sheds light on the idea of suits and what this classic item means today in the context of our everyday wardrobe. Andreas Kronthaler, creative director of Vivienne Westwood, described his first suit as a rite of passage. “I felt like a man, a real man – a grown-up who means business.” Suits still have the power to elevate their wearer and as Priya Ahluwalia says, a good one “makes you feel like you’re the main character, which is nice amid the mix of your day-to-day”. It’s a funny thing, heritage; it bestows history and nobility as though everything will be okay if you have it – and yet it is so easily lost. Cherish it, enjoy it. Become an avid collector of what you love. And use heritage and legacy as a starting point, so you’re always moving forward.
Issue 64 of 10 Men Magazine – FUTURE, LEGACY, HERITAGE – is on newsstands September 25. Pre-order your copy here.
DIOR: A STAR IS BORN
Photographer PASCAL GAMBARTE
Fashion Editor JULIAN GANIO
Talent PAUL KIRCHER
Text EMILY PHILLIPS
Grooming ANNE PUIFFE using Dior Sauvage Mencare, Dior Backstage Foundation and Dior Sauvage Extrait, all by Dior Beauty
Photographer’s assistants ANTON GREBENTSOV and ADAM DE LA TOUR
Fashion assistant GEORGIA EDWARDS
Production SONYA MAZURYK
Location Maria Studio, Paris
Clothing and accessories throughout Dior
