Fancy People Want Good Clothes Too
Twice this week I heard applause at a fashion show like I haven’t heard in years.
The message in both cases was clear: The people want good clothes. They’re craving them. For too long they’ve been getting something else — something flashy and shallow like a cheap lure glistening near the surface of a cloudy pond. Eventually even the dumbest fish get wise and stop biting.
The first startling applause I heard this week occurred at the finale of the Dries Van Noten show, recently appointed creative director Julian Klausner’s second collection but first runway, set to an edited outtake version of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” The track edged up to the song’s glorious chorus but refused to deliver. It finally hit in the show’s last moments — an intense relief bordering on ecstasy.
But actually I think it was the clothes, which were both safe and commercial, opulent and bold in all the right ways. Honestly, until Klausner came out for his bow, I didn’t know the demure Paris fashion week crowd was capable of such unabashed enthusiasm.
To be fair, they haven’t had much to cheer for in a few years. But with this collection, everybody won. The buyers had good clothes to sell, the press had good clothes to write about, and the dedicated fans of Dries Van Noten, who retired last year, had a clear vision of how the beloved designer’s legacy would carry forward. And they all loved it. You could feel desire being generated in the room with each passing look. In the end, it felt like people were cheering not just for nice clothes and the promise of strong business, but for the future of fashion itself.
If the applause at Dries surprised me, the standing ovation that came at the end of the Dior almost knocked me off my small wooden box. I stood, too, mostly to see who Jonathan Anderson would kiss first: LVMH boss Bernard Arnault or his seatmate, Rihanna. (I couldn’t get a good view, but it was probably both.) This was Anderson’s first show since being appointed creative director of Dior earlier this year. I don’t think anyone doubted the North Irish designer’s ability to deliver a strong first collection for the crown jewel of French fashion, but he seems to have exceeded even these high expectations.
Once again, the clothes were as intelligent and considered as they were easily consumable. The jeans were a respectable homage to the legendary pairs Hedi Slimane designed when he led Dior Homme 25 years ago, and the footwear was squarely in line with what guys want to buy now: candy-color suede Carvet-style slippers, fisherman sandals, and an expensive-looking Vans Era mimic. There were also velvet tailcoats, vampire collars, ankle-length shirts, and cargo shorts that fit like a set of heavy window curtains. But it was cool, the vibe was right, it didn’t scream in your face. There were no gaudy logos or fuck-you $100,000 shirts. If big-spending guys with good taste in clothes have been fleeing luxury houses for the past couple of years in search of something with a bit of integrity, then it will be a warm welcome back at Anderson’s house.
Dries and Dior weren’t the only places I saw good clothes being peddled in Paris this week. Either by necessity or by gut feeling, designers are finding ways to make great stuff that people want to wear. Even Pharrell’s latest collection for Louis Vuitton felt down-to-earth in a way we haven’t seen since he took the creative lead on men’s there.
What feels new is that it isn’t just the smaller and independent designers taking this direction; it’s the big dogs, too. What I observed last season in Paris happening in the thriving niches of fashion is beginning to permeate the industry. We’re not in the era of sensationalism and stunt any longer. We’re in the good clothes era now. Cheer for that.
