May 19, 2021 |
After the global Covid-19 outbreak forced all menswear shows to be cancelled early last summer, a rescheduled and fully digitalised Paris Fashion Week Men’s, July 2020, was to be the guinea pig of what is now considered the new normal in our industry. Five days of solely URL fashions – where the kitchen table became the new front row and ticket-less shows democratised the catwalk – showcased the city’s menswear talent to an entirely new audience. Digital fashion week meant these designers were now operating on a global stage. The possibilities were limitless.
We’ve picked the Paris menswear designers who have taken virtual fashion in their stride, who have defied convention and used this state of flux to tear out pages from the rulebook and completely rewrite it. Each has made navigating this strange, on-screen fashion world we now reside in all that more exciting. Long live these digital shapeshifters.
The Parisian designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin made his first foray into the digital fashion realm with Do You Love Me?, a romantic short film that follows two boys as they fall deeply in love on a pebble beach. Long, romantic gazes and a bit of tasteful canoodling in the sea were the introduction to the designer’s SS21 collection, E-Boy. “It’s designed to be a celebration of my community,” says the designer, who wanted to pay tribute to the people around him and the loyal customers who have kept his brand afloat through the pandemic. “Without them, we might not have survived.”
For this, his strongest collection to date, de Saint Sernin paired his signature eyelet briefs and PVC trousers with sensual woolen twinsets and Swarovski-embellished crop tops emblazoned with varsity-style lettering. The designer looked directly to his customers who pose in their LDSS signatures across social media. He knows exactly how to make his fans feel sexy.
Describe your brand in 10 words or fewer.
“Personal, love, freedom, community, digital, Paris, sex – and I’ll stick to seven words, because that’s my lucky number.”
Which fashion designers inspired you when you were growing up?
“Alaïa has always been such a huge inspiration to me. I admire the way he managed to build a cult brand with a family spirit. It was always very personal to him and he always believed in his craft, and I truly respect that. He was more than a designer in that sense and women adored him because he made them feel beautiful.”
What one thing would you say your home country does better than anywhere else?
“Mmm, that’s a difficult one. There are a lot of things that my home country does better than anywhere else. I’m from Paris and I think it’s the most beautiful city in the world right now. The architecture, the food, the culture – it’s hard having to choose one thing. Maybe I’ll say that I have never had a better pain au chocolat than in Paris – it’s my péché mignon.”
The theme for our issue is “there’s no place like home” – what does home mean to you?
“I love that and it’s so on point right now. There is indeed no place like home – I live and work in the same place. So I am always at home and I love it. It was really important for me to create a home that feels authentic and warm. I am hugely inspired by [the Belgian interior designer and art dealer] Axel Vervoordt, his work is a dream. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to work with him on a project. I only moved into this space a year ago, so I am still working on it by collecting pieces I love and will want to keep forever. But home is also where your heart is and I am so lucky to be in love and live with my boyfriend in this beautiful apartment in the Marais.”
Portrait by Jaime Cabrera. Taken from Issue 53 of 10 Men – NO PLACE, LIKE, HOME – order your copy here.
