Fashion Blog

PARIS, Jun 27 2008 / FW/ — Thierry Mugler and Kris Van Assche are separated by at least one generation of fashion houses. While Thierry Mugler, the designer has retired and his house currently under the capable hands of Rosemary Rodriguez and Antwerp-native Kris Van Assche designing for his eponymous label, the focus is MAN for both design houses, which surprisingly is something novel this season.

Thierry Mugler

Rosemary Rodriguez, who is now in charge of Thierry Mugler menswear said that her motto is, “I dress men, not just one man.” This summarizes the opus she presented today in a collection that included pieces for every, and any, type of lifestyle.

With the suits ranging from minimalistic and modern to military inspired, Rodriguez proposed casual elegance as seen in a color palette of navy blue, eggshell, greys, black, and pinstripes. For the modern metropolitan male, colorful zip-up jackets in electric blue and green are suggested as additions to his wardrobe. Add the derby oxford, loafers, and boots made from three-colors of leather provided final touches of style to that.

The pants in the collection were both slim cut and baggy, allowing men the liberté to choose the style they want to exude. All pieces in this collection were designed for an athletically built man, particularly the sleeveless, lavender crocodile and the black, zipper vests. Also seen in her collection were trench coats that accentuated the male waist as well as floral-embellished, silk robes paired with suit pants.

And lastly, Rodriguez reworked the dress shirt in ways that accentuated the curve of the male shoulder as well as baring some chest. Surprisingly, the Thierry Mugler DNA was not lost in this collection under Rosemary Rodriguez, and it will be interesting to see what is to come for this cornerstone menswear line.

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Thierry Mugler

Kris Van Assche

Kris Van Assche

With the theme “Love or death” for Spring 2009, Kris Van Assche reinvented the dress pants in silhouettes that have not been seen until now. Poetic, even philosophical at times, Van Assche’s vision is original as he tries to blend seamlessly the romance of the old world with the individualistic city style.

Constructing cargo pants and shorts with ribbon details streaming behind the models as they walked the runway, Van Assche also presented some slim cut pants, the more interesting were those that were balloon-like.

Putting it in terms of his theme of “love or death”, one could assume these pants resembled bed sheets turned dress slacks. Drawstrings were prevalent as the closure of pants as well as lacing up jacket sleeves. Following the trend of floral patterns on men’s shirts, Van Assche paired delicate floral details with vests and masculine cargo dress pants.

The creativity in his use of a watercolor pattern of blues, pinks, yellow, and white explored the excitement of love in the springtime. Lastly, creativity was very evident in his pants that were fully constructed; yet, one half of the waistline was purposefully sagging, creating a disheveled, romantic look.

Kris Van Assche’s presentation of the romanticism and fatality of love through menswear was beautiful in a fresh and modern way, keeping the fashion world a buzz with positivity.