The Kurators round-up: Paris Men’s Fashion Week AW26

Paris Men’s Fashion Week has just concluded, delivering a series of collections that interrogated proportion, material, and sartorial narrative with unusual rigor. Across Jacquemus, Dolce & Gabbana, Celine, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Dior, designers deployed tailoring, texture, and embellishment not as mere ornament, but as vectors of intellectual and cultural expression.

Dolce & Gabbana’s menswear oscillated between Mediterranean opulence and structural exactitude. Embroidered jackets, sculpted leathers, and bold silhouettes conveyed maximalist ambition without descending into excess, a carefully measured celebration of heritage, form, and craft.

This collection examined line, silhouette, and restraint with true precision. Taut tailoring and layered garments suggested that authority in menswear derives as much from proportion and construction as from spectacle. Colour palettes were muted, allowing shape and movement to dominate, producing garments that read as both cerebral and performative.

Véronique Nichanian’s final menswear show for Hermès crystallised decades of material mastery and structural intelligence. Leather, shearling, and silk interacted with compositional clarity, producing ensembles that were simultaneously rigorous and expressive. The presentation marked the culmination of Nichanian’s 37-year tenure while signalling an exciting forthcoming reinterpretation under Grace Wales Bonner.

Pharrell Williams’ Louis Vuitton collection demonstrated measured composure in rhythm, colour, and layering. Neutral tones were punctuated by red and yellow accents, and double-breasted jackets and leather details asserted an economy of form. Performance elements - live music and choreography - elevated the show into a study of temporal and spatial orchestration in fashion.

Jonathan Anderson revisited historical tailoring and early 20th-century references, translating them into contemporary silhouettes with sculptural precision and theatrical subtlety. The collection juxtaposed rich textures and refined structure, demonstrating that menswear can balance conceptual depth with wearable audacity.

Simon Porte Jacquemus closed the week at the Picasso Museum with Le Palmier, a co‑ed presentation that reimagined traditional proportions. Mid-length skirts with slotted panels, oversized hats, and asymmetrically coloured shoes reframed the body as a moving architectural form. Tailored jackets and draped outerwear maintained rigor, while the collection’s conceptual nucleus -  inspired by his daughter’s palm-tree ponytail - injected playful, kinetic intelligence. Jacquemus demonstrated that movement, proportion, and narrative can coalesce into a precise visual lexicon.