Despite global uncertainty and the passing of Valentino Garavani, this menswear season in Paris offered standout moments from both megabrands and fresh talents.
“Against a challenging international backdrop marked by geopolitical and economic tensions, as well as an ongoing crisis in both physical and online wholesale, Paris Fashion Week highlighted the creative resilience of designers — expressed through their renewed vision of tailoring and through diverse, inventive scenography,” Pascal Morand, executive president of Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, said.
The schedule, which ran from January 20 to 25, featured 36 shows and 30 presentations, versus 37 shows and 30 presentations in January 2025. As the creative directors of the latest cohort are finding their footing in their new houses, they might be skipping men’s shows. Like Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Fendi in Milan, Loewe sat out of men’s fashion week in Paris, choosing instead to present a co-ed show in March. Meanwhile, Saint Laurent will stage its men’s show during couture as it did last January. But a brief survey of a handful of editors reveals that their schedules were anything but light.
For the first time since Michael Rider and Peter Copping took the creative helms of Celine and Lanvin, respectively, the houses hosted presentations for menswear alone. LVMH Prize alumni also populated the men’s calendar. They included Magliano, winner of LVMH’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize in 2023, who joined the official Paris Men’s show calendar this season. “We are in a moment that can also give chances, I guess,” the brand’s founder, Luca Magliano, said backstage.
Here are our key takeaways from Paris Fashion Week Men’s.
Navigating uncertainties
Paris Men’s Week took place against the backdrop of new tariff threats. Coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Trump threatened new tariffs on goods from eight European countries, including France, on January 17, but reversed course four days later. On January 19, he threatened 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne. Luxury stocks took a hit.
Some are finding creative ways to respond to tariffs. Backstage before his show, Kartik Kumra, the founder of New Delhi-based label Kartik Research, addressed the 50% tariffs imposed by the US on India since August 27, 2025: “The first theme on my mind this season was tariffs. We opened this New York store three months before 50% tariffs — brutal timing —and while the store is performing pretty well, the common theme from all the conversations with the artisans in textile development is: what is happening? As a brand, I’m relatively agile. I can shift to grow in certain demographics. If you’re a maker, you have no access to your final customer, you’re kind of screwed, so it felt important to really double down on the ability of craft that we have access to. The level of embroidery that you’re going to see is quite different than anything we’ve done.” The embroideries in Kumra’s collection were handmade by artisans in India.
