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After Milan’s jazzy exercises in the realms of checks and English heritage, the million-dollar question was how posh Paris would interpret the trend. The answer came sooner rather than later in the shape of the Valentino show – the house’s first menswear show in Paris under the creative direction of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. With their clever couture approach to menswear, Chiuri and Piccioli took out the neo-classic salons of the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild and put the Prince of Wales with his check and his houndstooth through their modernist machine of ‘clarity and simplicity’. Out came a succession of immaculate garments, reworking said English trends into an austere, more polished and delicate frame, much like what Sherlock Holmes would have worn if he’d had a better-paying job. On his first call at the Paris men’s shows, the Valentino man certainly made an impression. He’ll do well here.
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
