Despite the stormy sky, the sun was shining on the catwalks of Paris this Saturday. On the fifth day of Spring/Summer 2025 men's shows, several designers stood out for their particularly summery proposals, moving work and sportswear towards more elegant ready-to-wear. Among them are the Japanese brands Kolor and White Mountaineering, and the young Parisian brand CREOLE.
At Kolor, founder and designer Junichi Abe continues to renew the everyday wardrobe with subtle touches, making clothes increasingly interesting. Workwear is always present, with cargo pants, overalls, multi-pocket jackets and vests, including a mesh version that can be equipped with all kinds of removable pockets. But this utilitarian fashion is evolving towards a younger spirit. Everyday clothes come out of the closet with something new and intriguing.
The lapels of a jacket with exposed inner seams have been grafted onto an old, wrinkled sky blue shirt. Pants divided at the waist in two different colors and styles, as if they were on top of each other. A baggy blazer with gold buttons revealed her true nature in the back, stripped of fabric only for its lining and bits of interlining. Elsewhere, a light blue blouse was tucked into the front of a loose peach colored blouse.
Nylon was the star this season. A wise choice for this mixed male and female show, held in the garden of the Lycée Henri IV, which narrowly avoided a downpour. In addition to safety pins, the designer cut trousers, shorts and long dresses from this lightweight, waterproof material, as well as stylish windproof shirts with puff sleeves fitted at the cuffs and this classic jacket with a fabric collar that looked cut off. of a lining.
The designer excels in the art of layering. For example, giant trouser tops were worn as skirts over straight, fitted pants, while coats and raincoats were worn in pairs. The same goes for short jackets with pockets. He was wearing a white cotton blouse over a long-sleeved black striped wool sweater. Finally, Junichi Abe combined sports with university style, with American football jerseys in the colors of Kolor University, renamed Kor University.
Known for its sportswear and outdoor ready-to-wear, with a focus on design and textile technology, which was particularly evident in the last ten all-black looks at the show, with sneakers, trekking pants, windbreakers and performance jackets with multiple pockets and multiple zippers, White Mountaineering seems to be accentuating the fashion shift it has been making over the past few seasons. More than the world of the mountains, which has always been a point of reference for the brand, as its name indicates, this season the stylist Yosuke Aizawa has been seduced by a very summery and sailor style.
Cap, sunglasses, neck scarf… The models in flip-flops showed off the look of the perfect vacationer on the Riviera, dressed in short striped swimsuits, wide-band sailor suits, printed sets with micro prints, navy blue or jacquard sets. Sweaters in sun-kissed colors. A preppy spirit runs through the collection, with elegant white suits made of light cotton and sweaters casually tied around the neck. And don't forget the large straw and raffia woven bags, in which you can carry your tennis racket.
Of course, the technical features of the garments are always present, as in these sweaters with beautiful openwork in the chest area, or in this other airy model under the armpits and on the sides. But Yosuke Aizawa now wants to prioritize “a complete and versatile wardrobe, both formal and highly technical.”
Along with these two renowned Japanese designers, who have been showing in Paris for years, Saturday was also an opportunity to discover CREOLE, whose acronym stands for “Conscience Relative à l'Émancipation Outrepassant les Entraves.” Supported by the Édération de la Haute Coture et de la Mode, which has included it in its Sphère showroom for young designers, the brand, founded in 2021 by Vincent Frédéric-Colombo, presented its fourth collection in a fashion show organized on the railway line in disuse. of the Petite Ceinture in Porte des Poissonniers, in the north of Paris.
The 33-year-old designer, who grew up in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe, at the foot of the Soufrière volcano, once again turned to his Creole culture, whose identity he expresses through his fashion, inspired by the volcano's eruption in 1976. In particular , has created elegant suits in black textured silk jacquard “to give a charred look.” One balaclava is embroidered “with the idea of a lava flow burning away vegetation.” But there is also an all-red look and bright colors, like this tartan tracksuit in purple and orange tones.
Despite this serious theme, CREOLE's collection for next summer has a much lighter and sexier feel, with tank tops open in large rectangles at the upper chest, peach knitwear with a tie & dye effect, tight-fitting T-shirts worn with red swimsuits and pants. -Plaid boxer briefs that protrude from shorts or low-rise shorts.
After training in industrial product design in the Vendée region and studying sociology in Lyon, Vincent Frédéric-Colombo studied fashion design at Head in Geneva. He then worked at the Kokon To Zai fashion boutique from 2012 to 2018, as well as in castings, maturing the project of launching into fashion. “I started with prints, then developed garments that I photographed in a process of visual and aesthetic exploration. This embryonic process took almost ten years before I founded my brand,” says the designer, who has made a name for himself in recent years as a DJ and co-founder of the Parisian party La Créole Collective, a reference for Caribbean music in the capital.
“There is very little creative representation of the Creole diaspora. What's more, we have tended to stick to the folkloric,” says the designer, who wants to make another voice heard by highlighting Creole identities. “I have always liked work clothes, good materials and clothes that last over time. It is men's clothing with more delicate references. It is men's clothing with more delicate references. There is a certain notion of know-how and manufacturing techniques. sewing, but for garments that are easy to wear and that make you want to wear them. I like to create timeless pieces that at the same time stand out,” he concludes. His brand is distributed by JahJah in Paris and through its e-store in the United States, Europe and the West Indies.
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