Paris Fashion Week: Dior pares down, LV jazzes up streetwear, Yohji Yamamoto focuses on quilts
PARIS — Dior men’s artistic director Kim Jones kept embellishments to a minimum for his winter 2025-2026 catwalk show, putting the focus on silhouettes, including long, cape-like coats and cropped leather jackets.
Held in a stark, indoor set at the Ecole Militaire in central Paris, the show for the LVMH-owned label kicked off with a series of all-black looks. Models descended a stark white staircase with slicked black hairdos and shiny patent leather shoes, some with blindfolds over their eyes. (Watch the show here:https://tinyurl.com/23af2fjf)
Mr. Jones added softness to the lineup with a silky, ivory blouse that was slit open in the back, tailored jackets in pale pink tones and a sprinkle of crystals on a few garments. There were also fabric bows on the back of coats and the tips of shoes.
Models crisscrossed the room before disappearing down a staircase leading underground. The front row stood to applaud Mr. Jones when he entered the set for his bow, greeting Dior Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Delphine Arnault with a hug and kissing Helene Mercier, the wife of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, on both cheeks.
Paris Men’s Fashion Week runs through Jan. 26 and is followed by Haute Couture shows.
Globally, high-end labels are grappling with a rare slowdown in appetite for fashion and accessories, with the key Chinese market a particular source of concern, while hopes are pinned on the US market for growth this year.
VUITTON SHOW AT THE LOUVRE
Louis Vuitton men’s creative director, Pharrell Williams, drew his audience to a rear courtyard of the Louvre Museum after dark on Tuesday for a fall-winter catwalk show, kicking off Paris Fashion Week with a lineup of jazzed up streetwear. (See the show here: https://tinyurl.com/4us6kzfz)
Models strode around the set to marching music, parading chunky wool suits, short bomber jackets, leather bermudas, and coats in pastels, autumn tones and psychedelic renditions of the brand’s signature logo patterns. There were colorful Speedy bags, lobster-claw charms, pearl embellishments, thick jewelry, and utility pockets in suede leather.
For this collection, Mr. Williams, who is also famous as a musician, teamed up with his longtime collaborator, Japanese fashion designer Nigo, currently creative director of another LVMH-owned label, Kenzo.
The pair have been active in street culture for decades, founding the label Billionaire Boys Club in 2003 and playing a role in streetwear’s rise to prominence, blending music with fashion.
In the front row, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, sat between his wife, Helene Mercier, and NBA basketball player Victor Wembanyama, tapping his foot to the music.
YOHJI YAMAMOTO OUTERWEAR
Yohji Yamamoto showed a lineup of quilted outerwear at Paris Fashion Week on Thursday, sending messy-haired models slowly down the runway, enveloped in chunky jackets and long overcoats. (Watch the show here: https://tinyurl.com/3fn98c9r)
For his fall-winter 2025-2026 menswear collection, the veteran designer mostly stuck to his signature, dark color palette, pairing thick suit jackets with matching trousers, cut utility style, with pockets on the legs.
Some coats were printed with messages, including “Despair is the conclusion of the fool” and “Sadness and suffering are the flowers of life.”
Models paused at times, turning slowly to show all angles, some taking off their coats to demonstrate the reversible nature of the garments. One blew a kiss to the audience, while another put his arm around the model accompanying him — a woman with a frizzy, white ponytail. — Reuters
