Men's Spring 2011: Top 5 Paris

There's such a lot to love (as usual) in Paris, but the clear winner for me is Lanvin. Nothing really matters after that.

1. Lanvin: Words fail me.

2. Yohji Yamamoto: Because it's lyrical, romantic, pretty without being drag and I think for once, surprisingly light-hearted.

3. Yves Saint Laurent: Because no one else seems to like it!

4. Hermes: So faultlessly correct. It appeals to the Virgo in me. I love being morally superior and this collection would make anyone morally superior.

5. Dior: Because again, no one seems to like it, although it is wonderfully accomplished, perfectly gauged, plainly beautiful. I love the Chinese inflections, the wrap tops, the kungfu pants and the fluid draping. And I like the way Kris Van Assche is steering Dior Homme away from the prison of that narrow definition that Hedi Slimane had created.
Number 6 is Raf Simons for me.
And my fave model this season is Philipp Beirbaum: It's the Austrian thing. Plus the neck.

Concision

I grew up looking at Mats Gustafson’s fashion drawings, which have decorated the pages of top magazines since the late 1970s. By 1997, the artist began shifting his focus to the natural world, with pastel landscape studies. Mr Gustafson, a Swede, began drawing swans in the same minimalist style that had defined his work in the fashion industry. “I picked the most fashionable parts of nature,” Gustafson said. “The swan is very much the supermodel among birds, and they’re very elegant. I was still looking for beautiful lines, but just in the natural world. I wanted to reduce, simplify, and get to the essence of things,” Gustafson said of his stark, romantic works. I love, love, love the concision of his work.

It's the complete opposite of what fashion is now.

Yohji Yamamoto Bites The Dust

Yohji Yamamoto filed for bankruptcy protection last week in Tokyo. A victim of slumping sales during this prolonged economic downturn. The company's debts total six billion yen, exceeding its assets. However, under Japan's corporate rehabilitation law, the house will continue to operate, and the revered Mr Yamamoto will continue to work. In contrast, Fast Retailing Co., which runs Uniqlo, enjoyed record sales in the year to August.

Mr Yamamoto first showed his designs in Paris in 1981.