Luxury longjohns emerge as must-have on day 1 of Paris’ men’s shows

Longjohns steal limelight at Paris’ men’s shows

PARIS — The French capital’s menswear displays packed a serious punch Thursday, as heavyweight French designer Jean Paul Gaultier delivered his take on boxing garb — and slouchy longjohns established themselves as the discriminating man’s legwear of choice for the fall-winter 2010-2011 season.

Japanese label Issey Miyake, one of the first shows on day one of Paris’ four-day-long menswear displays, gave the sleep deprived crowd of fashion insiders a much-needed caffeine fix with an expresso-soaked show, while French luxury giant Louis Vuitton looked to turn-of-the-century Vienna for clean-lined elegance that melded old school luxury fabrics with functional, high-tech ones.

Belgian critical darling Dries Van Noten also patched together contrasting fabrics, attaching fine tweed sleeves to sweatshirts and pairing classic, crest-emblazoned sportscoats with longjohns — and helping give that long-neglected garment its day in the sun.

Long underwear also to center stage, or rather ring, at Gaultier and were worn with dressy 3/4-length coats at Vuitton.

Off to a caffeine-spiked start, Paris’ menswear displays move into day two on Friday, with shows by French labels Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy and the perennially theatrical display at Dior designer John Galliano’s signature label.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

It was among the punchiest display in years for France’s one-time enfant terrible, who swapped the runway for a boxing ring and sent out models who were remarkably dapper despite looking like they’d been on the receiving end of Mike Tyson’s fist.

Wearing silk robe trenches, leather muscle tank tops, slinky leggings and towels in guise of scarves, they dripped blood from jagged cuts across their brows and had violet bruises that bloomed across their noses and eye sockets.

Others wore turtlenecks emblazoned with anatomical muscle prints were paired with low-crotched leggings and a snappy suit made out sweat-pant fabric looked like what Rocky would choose for a black tie event.

Gaultier — who gave the world Madonna’s conical bra — continued to borrow from ladies’ closets, sending out feminine pieces like skirts and sheer sparkly shirts.

Known for squeezing the last drop out of a theme, Gaultier beat this one to a bloody pulp: Fight-ready boxing gloves in red leather became a must-have accessory, as did face-saving masks, lace-up leather shoes, towels — which were also worn like over the head, like hoods — and extra-wide belts worthy of a champion.

As the male models, including several ultra-beefy mannequins who appeared to be real boxers, strutted their sporty stuff, two women in short shorts and pointy satin bras fought it out in a ring that stood in the place of the runway.

“It’s about combat, combating boredom, combatting the reigning depressive state,” said Gaultier, who sported a nasty-looking shiner, a split lip and rivulets of fake blood tricking from his temple.

Asked whether he practiced the sport himself, Gaultier said, “no way.” He added that when a photographer asked him to take a swipe at a hanging punching bag, he gave it a bear hug instead.

“I don’t think these little hands are made for such a sport,” he said.

LOUIS VUITTON

Rigor and restrained luxury were the names of the game at Vuitton, as menswear designer Paul Helbers looked to Austria for a collection of razor-cut layered looks with equestrian touches.

“I was inspired by Vienna and the whole atmosphere of the city in the 1920s and also the Vienna of today, the strictness of it, the kind of traditional-meets-technical aspect of it,” Helbers told The AP in a backstage interview.

Microfiber paneling around the midriff lent a cutting-edge feel to proper cashmere jackets. Double-breasted tweed coats were paired with slim nylon trousers that tucked into odd, high-rise clogs or riding boots — which the collection notes described as an ode to the Austrian capital’s celebrated Spanish riding school.

In a nod to Vuitton’s trunk-making heritage, most of the models carried oversized totes, duffle bags and backpacks. Three of the bags were hand-painted by German artist Christian Schoeler with swirling dreamscapes in dusty purples, blues and pinks.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Van Noten deftly combined far-flung fabrics for a hybrid look that managed to be chic, despite being equal parts naughty English schoolboy and couch potato.

Van Noten — an affable Belgian whose eye for quirky color combinations and penchant for madcap pairings of bold prints has made him a critical darling — attached mismatched fabrics onto slouchy sweats and paired longjohns with double-breasted sportscoats.

Many of the jackets and tie-waisted trenches looked as if they’d been the victims of a schoolboy’s prank: Their sleeves had their sleeves hacked off to reveal shoulderpads beneath.

“I wanted to play with tradition, but in a very young way,” Van Noten told The AP in a backstage interview. “When you want to play with menswear, you always have to do it with a bit of tradition, otherwise it becomes ridiculous.”

Forever the magpie, Noten said he’d drawn inspiration from vintage ties, sending out trench coats and tapered, cropped trousers in vertically striped prints originally taken from cravats from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

Noten said he’d sourced another of the collection’s dominant fabrics, fine Harris tweeds, from traditional weavers in Scotland.

“When you showed the models pictures of the little old ladies weaving the (tweed) fabrics on an island off the north of Scotland, they were amazed and were like ‘is this something that still exists?’” he said.

ISSEY MIYAKE

Miyake creative director Dai Fujiwara looked to Japan’s coffee shops, drawing inspiration from their trademark gingham tablecloths, the baristas’ casual chic and even the fluid dynamics of cream mingling with a piping hot cup of joe.

“After the crisis, I thought people needed a rest, a coffee break,” Fujiwara told The AP in a pre-show interview. Fujiwara, who begins his weekdays with a cup of English Breakfast tea, said he sees coffee as a languorous, weekend pleasure.

“You go down to the coffee shop in comfy clothes, with a newspaper,” he said. One of the models, wearing a slouchy, bath-robe-inspired sweater with a rolled-up newspaper peeking out of the pocket, looked like Fujiwara’s definition of a lazy Sunday morning.

Another channeled the barista’s just-rolled-out-of-bed chic, wearing a neat black apron over wide cut trousers and a chunky grandpa sweater.

The display, among Paris’ first, was held in the label’s central Paris showroom — which had been strewn with burlap bags of beans and a specially installed coffee bar. Bleary-eyed fashion editors and ragged stylist ponied up to the bar for much-needed shots of espresso that got menswear shows off to a punchy, caffeinated start.