Lunchtime at Givenchy, after hours at Egonlab

There was a significant contrast of styles at lunchtime in Paris on Wednesday, from Givenchy's elegant Café Society to Egonlab's energetic After 3AM. We witnessed both expressions.

Givenchy: the coffee society is great

No one took a bow after Wednesday's Givenchy show, as it was officially designed by an in-house team. But whoever created it deserved a standing ovation, because damn it, this was an impressive and balanced collection.

Presented to the Gotha of menswear editors, with barely 100 seats, everyone sat at linen-covered café tables with tiny lobster rolls, truffle-covered sandwiches and sweet pastries.

A very French elongated tailoring collection with a lot of careful experimentation. From the super high-waisted suits in pale blue, to the double-breasted tuxedo, fastened with an extra fifth central button. Even the stylish leather safari jackets with slanted pockets.

Capitalizing on a huge trend in men's fashion, both in street style and couture, men's coats and dusters were adorned or completely covered with ponytails.

Running through the leit motif was a 1953 drawing of a cat by founder Hubert de Givenchy, appearing in pale gray silk blouses, plain coats, and white astrakhan overshirts. Several of the cats even had bright orange eyes, a fun reference to the orange cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's, named simply Cat after the film's star Audrey Hepburn, Givenchy's muse.

Sometimes the atmosphere was a bit picturesque, such as the series of jacquard shirts and the final embroidery. saharan. There is still no word from the house about the next creative director. But overall, as an interim collection arriving after the departure of Matthew Williams on December 1st and the arrival of his successor, this was a very successful statement.

As he was possibly the only member of the public to attend the final collection (with the possible exception of LVMH big bosses Sidney Toledano and Michael Burke), one could go on to praise him further. It is suspected that Le Grand Hubert would also have greatly enjoyed this spectacle.

Egonlab: Tailoring with drama and attitude

The steady, plentiful rain that inundated Paris on Wednesday certainly did nothing to cool spirits at Egonlab, where the thirtysomething design duo of Florentin Glémarec and Kévin Nompeix presented a dynamic and stylish punk collection.

Their key was the brilliant range of silhouettes: like Eisenhower jackets with sharp shoulders and V-necks over flared trousers. Or single-breasted tuxedo jackets with dramatically tight peak lapels and cinched at the waist, paired with open scarf-like silk shirts.

Calling on '80s power suits, but always on their own terms, with oversized jackets that hung perfectly.

It all leads to red carpet shenanigans, like the huge copper vinyl coat with fringes hundreds of yards long or the faded denim jacket and rock star-style cutoff jeans.

“We love drama,” smiled Florentin, in a packed post-show backstage inside the Palais de Tokyo.

Driven by Russel G's hard-hitting dance rock track 3AM, this was a great show and a reminder of just how much menswear talent is on display in Paris.

This duo is so good that they managed to mix transgressive clothing and chic punk attitude into their strict tailoring with real skill. All the way to the final trio of looks crafted in a sequined beige Prince of Wales fabric, which was draped and ribbed over couture-worthy pants and coats.

In short, a great statement from two very talented designers with a very original point of view.