During the edition of Paris Men's Fashion Week, from January 19 to 24, along with Dior Men, Dries Van Noten, Yohji Yamamoto, Walter Van Beirendonck, Rick Owens, Paul Smith, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Issey Miyake... , several interesting designers presented their fall-winter 2021-22 collections.

CASABLANCA - See Video
Luxury Casablanca label was established by Charaf Tajer, french-moroccan designer, in 2018 with a first man line titled “Casablanca Tennis Club”. Tajer has a background in architecture, grew up in Paris, but he worked in an atelier in the Moroccan city that inspired the label’s name. Tajer was a partner in the Paris-based creative collective Pain O Chokolat, he cofounded the renewed streetwear brand Pigalle, he collaborated with Supreme and Virgil Abloh, and he also was Art Director of Paris’ iconic venue Le Pompon. In August he launched his first women’s collection for Net-a-porter inspired from Italy’s Lake Garda. During Paris Fashion Week he presented his first coed collection with a video shot at the Hôtel de la Païva in Paris and celebrating the Monaco Grand Prix.

GmbH - See Video
Serhat Isik and Benjamin Alexander Huseby are the duo behind the Berlin-based GmbH label started in 2016. The brand name is the acronym of the German words for 'limited liability company’ (to give the idea of a family business). By the second collection GmbH was shortlisted for the LVMH Prize for young designers in 2018 and included in Dazed's annual list of 100 people shaping the future of youth culture. GmbH’s clothes reflect the multiculturalism backgrounds of the designers, a mix of influences from Berlin to Middle Eastern culture: Isik is Turkish and German, Huseby is Norwegian and Pakistani, and the children of Muslim immigrants. For their Fall Winter 2021 collection the duo were inspired by mid-century haute couture.

WALES BONNER - See Video
London-based menswear label founded by Grace Wales Bonner in 2014, Wales Bonner was the winner of the 2016 LVMH Prize. Born in South East London to a Jamaican father and English mother, Wales Bonner’s collections feature her multicultural heritage. She studied at Central Saint Martins, worked for her placement year at Meadham Kirchhoff in London and assisted American Vogue fashion editor Camilla Nickerson in New York. In 2015, she was awarded Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards. Her creations explore black identify and the FW 21-22 collection spotlighted British intellectualism and Caribbean thought.

TAAKK - See Video
Japanese designer Takuya Morikawa started Taakk in 2012 after eight years of working with Issey Miyake. He presented for the first time on the official Paris Calendar his Fall Winter 21-22 collection that combines original motifs and tailored silhouettes with a modern touch.

VALETTE STUDIO - See Video
Valette is a young fashion brand established in Paris by Pierre-François Valette in 2020. He graduates in fashion design from the Institut Français de la mode in 2018 and he worked for Isabel Marant and Saint Laurent, where in march 2019 he won the fashion Saint Laurent couture institute prize.Pierre-François Valette made his debut on the Official Paris Calendar presenting a FW 21-22 collection: pieces in bright colors that blends sophisticated tailoring with a contemporary attitude, inspired by subcultural identities and iconographies from military clothing.

PHIPPS - See Video
Phipps International was founded by Spencer Phipps in 2018. American designer based in Paris, Spenser graduated from Parsons School and he began his career at Marc Jacobs, where he worked for seven years, before departing to Antwerp to work as the first American on Dries Van Noten’s design team. The emerging brand was selected as a finalist of the LVMH prize in 2019, and almost self-evidently entered the Paris Fashion Week calendar in the same year. Humanity’s determination to explore planet earth and the perils of its utmost extremes lies at the core of the Phipps Fall/Winter 2021 collection. Th designer for this season collaborated with Oceanic Global, an international non-profit organisation dedicated to caring for the ocean and providing efficient solutions to protect it.

KIDILL - See Video
Kidill is a Japanese punk and streetwear label founded by Hiroaki Sueyasu in 2014, which debuted in the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo Fall/Winter 2014. Hiroaki Sueyasu has been presenting his creation independently in Paris since 2019, and for the 2021-22AW collection, Kidill will be on the official schedule of Paris Fashion Week for the first time. For its 2021-22 AW collection, the Tokyo based brand collaborated with the next generation artist Jesse Draxler known for its black and white collage, and with the music legend Keiji Haino, who soundtracked the show. From 2020 every season Kidill also collaborates with Edwin, a Japan denim brand that upcycle scraps and develop wastewater repurposing facilities for the sake of treating denim.

ÉTUDES - See Video
Aurélien Arbet, Jérémie Egry and José Lamali are the creative directors and designers behind the French label Études, launched in 2012. Études has often collaborated with artists from diverse and artistic backgrounds, and its vision reflects contemporary street style.

Y/PROJECT - See Video
Funded in 2010 by the late Moroccan designer Yohan Serfaty and relaunched in 2013 by the new creative director, the Belgian designer Glenn Martens. Martens introduced quickly his codes into the house and showcased the first womenswear capsule during the Fall 2014 menswear season in Paris, making Y/Project become one of the most expected shows at Paris Fashion Week. Graduated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Martens worked with Jean Paul Gaultier and in 2012 he started his eponymous label that ran for three seasons. In 2017 Martens awarded the ANDAM prize and in October 2020 has been named creative director of Diesel. On the occasion of the Paris fashion week FW 21, the brand unified men’s and women’s collection for the first time. He also presented a rainwear capsule in collaboration with Canada Goose and a line of shoes created with eco-friendly Brazilian brand Melissa.

ZIGGY CHEN - See Video
Ziggy Chen founded his eponymous Shanghai-based mens’ and womens’ label in 2012 combining the artisanal traditional Chinese with a contemporary aesthetic. Chen become a fashion designer at 40 years old and he adopted garment-making as a way of self-exploration. For his collections, Chen takes inspirations in little fragments in his daily life, such as visiting antique market, and watching a movie and TV shows.

MAISON MIHARA YASUHIRO - See Video
Maison Mihara Yasuhiro is a men’s clothing and footwear brand founder by the Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro. Yasuhiro first made his name in the fashion industry by designing footwear and creating his first line of shoes in 1994 whilst still attending Tama Art University. He’s known for his innovative and modernist style of design. Mihara also collaborated with the sportswear brand Puma. In 1998 Mihara launched his first store, SOSU, meaning “prime number”, in Aoyama, Tokyo.

KOLOR - See Video
Kolor is a Japanese brand founded in 2004 by Junichi Abe, and it quickly found an audience throughout the world. His creations features comfortable line and fabrics with a sophisticated twist and extravagant color combination. Junichi Abe presented his Fall Winter 21-22 collection in the Happo-en garden of Tokyo, and livestreamed the show, where minimalism and classic forms dominated.

BOTTER - See Video
Founded by Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh in 2017, Botter is a menswear brand with a sustainable approach. Both graduate of the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Lisi Herrebrugh & Rushemy Botter won the Grand Jury Prize at the 33rd edition of International Hyères Festival in 2018, were finalists for the 2018 LVMH Prize, and were appointed creative directors of Nina Ricci in the summer of 2018. The Fall/Winter 2021 collection, entitled “Romancing the Coral Reef”, pays tribute to the marine world, and combines classic tailoring with researched and upcycled fabrics.

Anna Rita Russo@modemonline