The spectacular show offered a vision between Spring Summer Fall Winter And Spring, and Solaris. The impeccably tailored clothes defined silhouettes harmonizing the ample and the fitted, yet never looking stiff. It almost made me wish I worked in an office to fully enjoy the relaxed, airy style and smooth matters this collection offered.

words & images ©Maxime Büchi

Damir Doma presented his menswear collection at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris on Saturday. Firmly grounded in the colours of the earth, his gentle warriors descended upon the terraced gardens in the dimming twilight. No longer on a gallant quest, Damir’s men seemed to have found their destination – in a grounded uniform that spoke a new sophistication of proportion, of light and dark, of drape and exposure.

Damir Doma Spring Summer 2011

“A new control emerges in the reverent uniforms of the scorched earth. From a cloistered existence, a gentleman walks through mineral landscapes. An unknown static breaches his calm, weaving a subtle gleam into old tradition. The disturbance becomes vestal, augering the age of experience. Innocence is shattered as a new harmony reigns.

-

Born on a bed of stone, the Damir Doma man carries a hardness upon his back, carved at the shoulder in acute structure. His sleeves warp in batwing volumes; his torso is robed in a flat plane or lost in light folds. Carpeted in the fractured weave of woven cotton, he bears a new geometry – as disparate angles align in points of harmony.

Tones are volcanic, gathering momentum through a strata of pure greys, taupes and black. A print explodes as cosmic smoke, as white noise arrives in a second skin of knitwear and blanket shawls. Light coats carry a quiet drama, constructed in papery cotton gauze, washed linens and cashmere silk. His legs are softly bound in pleated shorts or a low sarrouel trouser, his head crowned by a sombre fez. On his feet, formal sandals are worn with knitted socks, or a low desert boot grounds his step.

Divining a delicate tension, Damir Doma aligns a timeless balance between opposites. The keystones of universal folklore become blurred in the chaos of today. In the eye of the storm, grace is born from instinct.”

I was very lucky to be invited to the YSL show (thank you to Guilhem and all the YSL crew). The collection blew me away. A very subtle—not all out—deconstruction of a classic wardrobe into partial pieces, still managing to respect the house’s legacy of classicism and elegance. Chapeau. Unfortunately, my positioning in the tiny venue and some technical mishaps didn’t allow me to take great pictures. Sorry

At the entrance of the building, was presented a movie by Ari Marcopoulos on LA tattoo artist Mark Mahoney. An interview with Ari and Stefano Pilati is coming up…

photos & video ©Maxime Büchi

I have so many images to process, it will take me some time to post everything, but please bear with me as I really fought to get the right placement to make good pictures of all the looks and then took the time to crop, balance contrast them for you to get good highres images of the shows…

To come asap: CDG, damir doma, yohji yamamoto, KVA, YSL, Givenchy, dior homme, dries van noten, Boris, Rick Owens…

The last show I went to today was the greatly appreciated Raf Simon (were to be found among the attendees, nothing less than Riccard Tisci and the Givenchy Family, Panos Yipanis and Nicola Formichetti).

We all particularly liked his latex jumpers, all in hospital-y colours worn over classical outfits. (Obviously, the openings in the back do also evoke surgical suites, but I can’t really say it seemed a real theme in this collection either.)

photos & video ©Maxime Büchi

We are proud to announce the launch of
Novembre, a magazine about Fashion & Contemporary Art for Switzerland.
Published by Sang Bleu éditeurs, Florence Tétier & Florian Joye,
it features (amongst over 130 contributors):

Aaron Schuster
Adeena Mey
Adrian Wilson
Angelo Cirimele
Ariana Reines
Catherine Baba
Damián Navarro
Daniel Baumann
Denis Pernet
Diane Pernet
Elisabeth Llach
Emmanuelle Antille
Estelle Hanania
Frédéric Chapon
Graham Tabor
Guillaume Pilet
Henrik Vibskov
Koudlam
Kris van Assche
Luc Andrié
Matthieu Lavanchy
Mauricio Nardi
Olaf Breuning
Paloma Presents
Piers Atkinson
Sybille Walter
Théo Mercier
Vikash Dhorasoo

(see the facebook event)