The design team toned down the exaggerated volumes of past seasons, and what a relief it was. Gone were the comic proportions of fall, and in their place some fresh and flattering looks that were an ode to Paris in the Eighties.
There was a strong workwear feel, with men and women alike dressed in black or white overalls, their pockets adorned with little green ribbon tabs resembling Metro tickets. Cropped trousers were worn with stretchy belts that read “Paris, Ville de Nos Rêves,” while striped shirts were emblazoned with the letters P-A-R-I-S, lyrics from a song by the French New Wave group Taxi Girl.
White denim jackets and corset tops came with patches of the Eiffel Tower, a Mona Lisa cartoon and other touristy bits, while another patch reading “Vertige,” or vertigo, was a nod to the dizziness of young love in the City of Light. (No fear of clichés on this runway).
The colors of the Metro also came through in a green and white striped shorts suit that opened the show and a bright yellow suit with Vertige emblazoned across the back. A boxy gray suit and oversized trenches took their swagger straight from the Eighties.
Among the highlights were long shirts with midnight blue
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’ZINE SCENE: The fifth and sixth releases of Willy Vanderperre’s 12-issue fanzine, called /12 that’s being done throughout one year in association with Idea Books, was celebrated in Paris on Saturday evening.
Fans of the photographer and the two models — Kiki Willems and Jonas Gloer — who feature in the editions flocked to the Comme des Garçons Trading Museum Paris for the event. That’s also where the publication was launched exclusively prior to being introduced worldwide and online starting July 1.
Just 300 copies of each issue are available, and every one in the series, each of which features one model — such as Julia Nobis, Clément Chabernard and Abbey Lee — has followed the same format. This includes a double-page spread shot with a flash of the person wearing makeup; a photo of a detail of the model, usually their ear, and a loose-leaf format. It’s almost Hockney-eque in its multifaceted perspective and approach.
“He builds a portrait of the person rather than the model,” said David Owen, a cofounder of Idea Books, which has worked on numerous projects with Vanderperre. Owen added that often there is a waiting list of 300 people for each edition of /12.
“I don’t think there
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HAPPY FEET: It was the perfect day to be wearing Birkenstocks. With Paris in gridlock thanks to the conjoined influence of its 2024 bid to host the Summer Olympic Games and the Gay Pride parade, the fashion set spent much of their day on foot.
“I don’t know if we’re part of fashion, but we’re part of the fashion industry,” chief executive officer Oliver Reichert said. “So here we are in Paris, having some drinks and having a nice time.”
The comfortable footwear brand invited one and all to step away from the hectic pace in a temporary Orangerie set-up in the Tuileries Garden, complete with soothing pebbled rivers, grassy stretches, the newly launched natural cosmetics and the comfortable beds it also produces, and, of course, the full footwear range Birkenstock has to offer.
On display was an array of styles, from the Red Dot Design Award-winning extruded EVA to the classic two-buckle designs to more unexpected ones, such as a knee-high hiking boot.
Top of the class were models that fused past and future with tech-looking materials dressing the traditional cork foot bed; colored outsoles, metallic leather uppers and new buckle shapes, and studded styles, particularly tricky to execute as the metal needed
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MARINE LIFE: The front row at Lanvin’s fashion show on Sunday was leagues above the setting of Reda Kateb’s next movie: a submarine.
“I play the role of a commander of a nuclear submarine,” the French actor specified, adding that to prepare for the role he had gone into a number of boats and spoken to people. “It’s very interesting.”
The filming of the movie, called “Le Chant du Loup,” directed by Antonin Baudry and also starring Omar Sy and Mathieu Kassovitz, is taking place entirely in France — in Brest, Toulon and a Paris suburb.
Kateb doesn’t go to many fashion shows, but is a fan of Lanvin so he went along to its display. “I like to wear its clothing,” said Kateb, adding he also is partial to Agnès b.
Kateb is in the film “Django,” which is heading abroad after a run in France. Next up is Montreal, in a week.
Other attendees included Corentin Fila and Haider Ackermann. It was Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade’s last show in Paris before the couple heads off on a Mediterranean cruise.
SEE ALSO: Front Row at Paris Fashion Week Men’s Spring 2018: All The Pictures >>
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HAVE SHIRT, WILL TRAVEL: Alexandra Senes is not lacking in inspiration for her travel-themed brand, Kilomètre Paris. The editor-turned-designer has expanded her offering of vintage men’s shirts embellished with embroidery channeling travel destinations, t0 50 locales from 20 since it launched just three seasons ago.
But finding sufficient stock of “liquettes” — the 19th-century shirts from the South of France she uses to make them — is proving more of a challenge as demand grows, said Senes at the opening of a pop-up space at L’Eclaireur’s Rue Boissy d’Anglas store Thursday evening.
“I need to find disused stock, it’s quite challenging — let me know if you have any leads,” said Senes, who found the original item that inspired the brand’s creation at a flea market.
As such, she is diversifying to new categories. Cushions, scarves and bags are already part of the mix.
For fall, Senes is adding a range based on traditional French blue workwear, or “bleu de travail,” that will launch in September. “I found an old stock of it,” she explained.
Kilomètre Paris’ shirts are embroidered by hand, some taking as long as six weeks to adorn, and each is accompanied by a “passport” describing the destination by which it was
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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have 40 years on the books now — that’s the point of the band’s current tour — so it almost seems unfair to only get 19 songs in a headlining set on the first day of the inaugural Arroyo Seco Weekend in Pasadena on Saturday, June 24.
But that ended up making for two hours of music, and in the end the fans who packed the festival grounds in front of the Oaks Stage — and we really mean packed; more on that in a bit — probably heard most of the hits they came for.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers perform during the Arroyo Seco Weekend festival on Saturday, June 24, 2017 in Pasadena. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
“Rockin’ Around (With You)” opened up the night, a nod to the band’s history, with Petty noting it was “the first song on the first album we ever did.” Up next, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” an outtake from a Petty solo album that came out on a Heartbreakers’ greatest hits collection. Confusing? Not really, the Petty solo records were always practically Heartbreakers’ albums in all but name.
Related: These photos show you what it’s like to be at Arroyo Seco Weekend
And that’s how they were treated on Saturday, with solo hits such as “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and “I Won’t Back Down” fitting neatly around a Heartbreakers’ classic like “You Got Lucky.”
Most of these guys have been playing together for decades: Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench go back to Mudcrutch, the band they were in before they became the Heartbreakers, and the others have been in and out of the band for years, with Petty joking during the band introductions that drummer Steve Ferrone, who’s only been in the group for 23 years, is the new guy.
So they sounded as sharp and tight as you’d imagine. The keyboards and bass that open “You Got Lucky” in such an instantly recognizable fashion were terrific. And even the introduction of a new song in place of “Walls,” which has held a spot midway through the set on most dates on the current tour, went flawlessly.
“We’re going to try one here that we haven’t played in about 30 years,” Petty said by way of introducing that “Into The Great Wide Open” from the 1991 album of the same name. “By that I mean we haven’t rehearsed it, either.”
Related: From Jeff Goldblum to Alabama Shakes, these are the musical highlights from opening day of Arroyo Seco Weekend
No worries, it sounded great, and the crowd sang along loudly on the choruses as they did on many songs in the set. By my reckoning “I Won’t Back Down” and “Free Fallin’” had the biggest crowd choral accompaniment early in the set, with maybe “Yer So Bad” and “Refugee” the biggest in the back half.
“Yer So Bad,” when it arrived, provided a welcome boost of energy to the set. It followed three from the “Wildflowers” album — “It’s Good To Be King” in a version that might have gone on a bit longer than it needed, “Crawling Back To You,” and the title track. They’re good songs, a bit more folk than the earlier stuff, and backing vocals of the Webb Sisters were lovely, but it slowed down the pace a bit, which at the end of a long, hot day was dangerous.
Also threatening the good vibes of Petty’s set was the cluster-mess of the crowd. Festival organizers didn’t book any acts opposite Petty, choosing to close down the two other stages, which is fine, but that also meant everyone on the festival grounds tried to squeeze into a space that was too narrow to accommodate them — especially given that many, many people came with blankets and lawn chairs and staked out spots — large spots — on the lawn in front of the Oaks stage.
Related: Arroyo Seco Weekend is the hometown festival you actually want to go to
Traffic flow ground to a halt, and the search for a good spot to watch, and hear, Petty and the Heartbreakers was a challenge. I moved around a few times, trying to find a spot where the sound wasn’t muffled, eventually moving back beyond the rear speakers in order to get a clearer audio feed.
“Refugee,” one of the early classics by the band, and “Runnin’ Down A Dream” wrapped up the main set, before an encore of “You Wreck Me” and “American Girl.”
Now that I’m home and thinking about it I’ve realized how many great songs the band didn’t play: “Breakdown,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “The Waiting,” and a whole lot more. Come back next year, Tom! Play the rest of them and hopefully the lawn chair and blanket people will be moved into their own little corral so the rest of us can better enjoy the show. Or just add them in to your tour-closing show at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 21, just announced on the band’s Twitter while it was playing at Arroyo Seco Weekend on Saturday.
