Baggy Meets Romantic at Paris Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2025
While the recently concluded Paris Fashion Week for Spring-Summer 2025 was devoted to women, a bevy of designers included menswear in their collection, which seemed to arrive in unison: baggy yet finely tailored coats that extend below the knee.
American singer Lenny Kravitz is one of the harbingers of this particular style. He arrived at the Yves Saint Laurent show wearing a floor-sweeping hemline with oversized lapel and trousers. Movie actor Willem Dafoe, on the other hand, made a surprise return to the runway, closing Miu Miu’s show in a navy overcoat and sweater, paired with a white button-up and gray pleated pants.
At Ann Demeulemeester, overcoats were simpler but lashed with the new concept of romanticism. Creative director Stefano Gallici described his version as “endless possibilities of lost and found.” Floral silks were styled with distressed and patched denim. To make more leg room, Gallici decided to sew the trousers in bias: cutting the fabric at a diagonal angle across the weave of the fabric to make it even more elastic.
Distressed and patched denim by Ann Demeulemeester
Meanwhile, Alessandro Michele’s second show for Valentino had also hints of soft, romantic themes such as bows, tassels, and scads of ruffles emerging from collars. But unlike Gallici, his overcoats were tailored and structured with vintage prints and pattern of the '80s, bringing in a breath of fresh air for the brand that is known for its luxurious craftsmanship. “Going through the archives—layers of fabrics—I saw life, soft and light. I was seduced. I felt like I was in bed with Valentino,” said Michele who was the former designer of Gucci.
Valentino didn’t exactly embrace baggy clothes, but in the same experimental spirit, brothers Julius and Victor Juul shared the same fashion-forward aesthetic for their brand Heliot Emil, named after their grandfather. In lieu of overcoats are oversized bomber jackets and sleek vests over knitted pullover paired with skirt pants that Julius called “a little hint of what the future holds.”
Some of the womenswear brands like Hodakova, Stella McCartney, and Balmain took hints from the overcoats. McCartney and Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing were about big shoulder pads. McCartney focused on extended shoulders and fine lingerie matched with oversized pants. Her models came out with '80s inspired flat boxing boots, carrying the new duffel bag shape dubbed as the Ryder (made of vegan materials).
Rousteing, for his part, made both a statement and a tribute. The pointy shoulders were in honor of his predecessor Christophe Decarnin who introduced the design when he was still his assistant. “The shoulders stand for strength, and they stand for the Balmain woman and man. I am back to my origins,” Rousteing told Suzy Menkes backstage.
Peter Do overcoat at Paris Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2025
Hodakova designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson also turned to her roots. Born in Scandinavia, where collecting mushrooms is considered a pastime, Larsson’s silhouettes are inspired by the shape of mushrooms. Along with overcoats printed with landscapes, she brought back argyle patterns on sweaters and tweed jackets, accessorizing the looks with woven belt bags shaped like wooden berries and backpacks made from gathering baskets.
Paris Fashion Week was not just about trends to look forward to. News in the fashion world went on within the period. Naomi Campbell was awarded the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters title by the French Ministry for Culture.
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Moreover, Italian fashion designer Alberta Ferretti stepped down as the creative director of her eponymous brand, which she launched in 1981. But she will continue as vice president of the family business. Similarly, just before it closed on October 1, Hedi Slimane resigned as the creative director of Celine. He was immediately replaced by Michael Rider, a former designer at Polo Ralph Lauren.
