Clothing | by admin
Paris’ menswear week evaporates in record heat
Paris’ spring-summer 2012 menswear shows melted into the past on Sunday, wrapping up in a pool of perspiration on the year’s hottest day yet.
The five-day-long menswear extravaganza kicked off Wednesday under cloudy skies and usually chilly temperatures for June, but by Sunday thermometers had soared to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) — a nightmare scenario for a crowd of elaborate dressers reluctant to remove blazers, corsets or any other essential but asphyxiating element of their looks.
After the last show — a solid display by Swedish jeans-maker Acne — the fashion elite raced back to their hotels to pack their bags and get the hell out of Dodge before temperatures climb to a sweltering 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) on Monday.
The heat wrecked havoc on shows from Paul Smith — where listless editors, stylists and journalists gave up taking notes to fan their reddened faces instead — to U.S. designer Thom Browne, whose sumptuous velvet-walled venue was transformed into a sauna.
Lanvin showed early enough in the morning — and delivered such a gorgeous collection — that it was among the sole shows of the day where the clothes managed to outshine the beating sun.
Besides the weather, the other main topic of conversation throughout the week was the ongoing saga of disgraced former Dior designer John Galliano, whose daylong trial on anti-Semitism charges Wednesday coincided with the start of menswear week here. He faces up to six months in prison and €22,500 ($32, 175) in fines for allegedly showering racist and anti-Semitic insults on a couple seated next to him at a Paris bar — an incident which cost him his job as creative director at Christian Dior, as well as at his own signature label.
In emotional testimony, Galliano blamed pressures of a pitiless industry for pushing him off the brink and into prescription drug and alcohol addictions. While he said he didn’t remember the specifics of the incident or another alleged clash at the same bar, the once-flamboyant Galliano apologized for any pain caused by his words and actions.