Paris Fashion Week: nostalgia comrades

In 2018, Mike Amiri arrived at Paris Fashion Week timidly, with his (very) slim, ultra-torn jeans. Seven years later, his brand, Amiriexceeds 300 million euros in turnover, and has entered another dimension, that of an American luxury house. As evidenced by its fall-winter 2025-2026 collection presented Thursday evening, which resurrects the spirit of Los Angeles from the 1970s: five Sta-Prest-style pockets, jackets and polo shirts adorned with crystals, poplin shirt and club tie, military leather parka, double-breasted suit and Cuban collar shirt… A hedonistic, opulent and nostalgic vision that seduces with its anachronistic side. However, we cannot help but wonder about the commercial reality of this wardrobe, the heart of Amiri’s business being very much in jersey and sneakers.

Remember: in the early 2010s, Brooklyn hipsters were taking over the world. Bearded men in hunting jackets and checked shirts listening to TV On The Radio and LCD Soundsystem who feed the Tumblr network with images, adorned with the hashtag #menswear. This generation will set the tone for a new wave of men interested in clothing, in truth, in its origins and its history. Friday morning, Junya Watanabe resurrects said lumberjack look which is already dated! – from fifteen years ago. The Japanese thus revisits the legendary Filson jacket in leather, oiled cotton or large flannel, with typically “Junya” quilted inserts, worn with cuffed Levi’s and hiking Paraboot. The models, bearded, tied a tie at the neck of their Oxford shirt. A dive back in time which, strangely, makes us want to return to these fundamentals.

Quite a balancing act that of Gauthier Borsarello, the artistic director of Fursac : the French’s favorite costume brand is showing for the first time during Fashion Week. “ The parade exercise for a brand like ours is not the easiest. You don’t have to be above ground, admits Borsarello. When I played in the Orchestra (he has training as a classical musician, Editor’s note), I was told ‘play for the last place’. That’s exactly what I’m doing today: amplifying the volume and the messages.” Sur la bande-son de Find the boy from Taxi Girl, the models come forward in their double-breasted suit and tie under a white raincoat (Sautet or Melville inspiration, and more contemporary), military-inspired parka over slightly flared jeans, beige Austrian jacket, sweaters stitched with badges of rock groups… The references abound, the last period of Golf Drouot, the BCBG, The Boom and modern young people, from Dominique Laboubée of Dogs to Marquis de Sade. It doesn’t matter that the brand mainly sells blue suits, we clearly recognize the culture of Borsarello, a vintage expert who took advantage of the experience of the catwalk to revive “this Parisian allure of the period 1978 to 1982, when two decades intersect.»

On the other hand, no trace of nostalgia for Rick Owensbut an interesting return to basics this season. Is it because we have summarized him too much with his spectacular fashion shows and his postapocalyptic aesthetic that the American presents a more refined silhouette? “ I always have in mind the principles of Jean-Michel Frank and his vision of simplicity, he says backstage. How to simplify as much as possible ? How can I reduce the number of things I own, limit what I need, and make all my choices more relevant? I wanted simple things, refinement and moments of madness.» A very short leather jacket, a thick wool coat, a hooded sweatshirt, that’s for “the simple things”. A very high collar worthy of Dracula, a zip around the waist which allows you to adjust the length of the coat, faded jeans revealing shades of bronze, that’s it for madness. This exercise in purity suits Owens well, who reveals in this production what we already knew but which the public sometimes forgets: more than a director of a show, he is a creator, pure, demanding.