Spotlight on Men’s Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collections from LVMH Maisons

Dior: a tribute to Judy Blame bridges past, present and couture

For the Dior Men’s Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collection, Artistic Director of Dior men’s collections Kim Jones draws on the Dior archives and iconography to celebrate the Maison’s timeless elegance. The collection is a journey to the heart of haute couture and a tribute to Judy Blame, a pivotal figure in the 1980s London post-punk scene. “Her love of couture was an inspiration to us all,” says Kim Jones. The silhouettes explore the values of excellence and authenticity, evoking fashion not just as a finished product, but as a creative process. Clothes, shoes and accessories sport engineered zips that highlight details and the cut. The Dior Oblique canvas is revisited in beaded embroideries, while the Dior logo is pierced with a safety pin, a nod to Judy Blame’s DIY-inspired style. Opera gloves complete each look and buttons covered with fabric – like those on the iconic Bar jacket – appear alongside a panorama of memories: shades of gray and blue, plays on volume, pleats and draping that reference flou and tailoring techniques.  Drawing inspiration from the toile de jouy motif that decorated Christian Dior’s first boutique — called “colifichets” — a new “Toile de Judy” motif was designed specially for the Men’s Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collection in collaboration with the Trust Judy Blame Foundation, based on the artist’s revolutionary work.

Berluti: a generational dialogue between tradition and change

A blue slate suit set the scene for the Berluti Men’s Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collection in the Opera Garnier, where the classical and contemporary co-exist. Artistic director Kris Van Assche intensifies the Berluti heritage, transposing its shoemaking expertise to tailoring. In a continual conversation between contrasts, old and new inform and augment one another, marrying bourgeois and rebel style. The patina leather suit, a new Maison trademark, is softened and refined, while motifs associated with Berluti’s heritage – Prince of Wales check, houndstooth and herringbone – magnify and deconstruct the men’s wardrobe when Kris Van Assche introduces them to streetwear manifestations. For accessories the Berluti Artistic Director revisits the Maison’s classic Scritto pattern to imagine the new Signature motif, evoking the idea of a heritage logo that never existed. The Signature canvas is used on a weekend bag, a backpack, a tote, small leather goods as well as trunks, a watch case, plus a shoe care kit from a new collaboration with British luggage-maker Globe-Trotter.

Louis Vuitton: making the ordinary extraordinary

Breaking free of the popular ideas associated with streetwear, Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director Virgil Abloh proposed a study of the evolving anthropology of the suit for Fall/Winter 2020-2021. In a staging with surrealist accents, the Louis Vuitton men’s silhouette sends a resolutely optimistic message: make the ordinary extraordinary. Following this ethos, the suit – the corporate and socially-conform uniform in every man’s wardrobe – is decoded and recoded into a symbol of craft and creativity, magnified by lionized sculptures of the artisan’s traditional tools on the catwalk. Seen through the optics of a child, phenomena and traditions taken for granted are invigorated and elevated to engender a new Heaven on Earth.

Givenchy, lavish hedonism inspired by India

The style of the 14th Maharajah of Indore (1908-1961) offers a visual cue for the symbiotic relationship between clothing and jewelry in the Givenchy Men’s Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collection. In the 1930s, the fearless aristocrat left India for Los Angeles, embracing the Modernism of the West while continuing to drape himself in pearls, gemstones and precious metals. His influence immerses the men’s silhouette created by Givenchy Artistic Director Clare Waight Keller in a lavish hedonism, fusing elegant charms and embroidery with sleek tailored suits, doubled-breasted blazers and nipped coats. Lapidary sketches become totemic prints on tulle and jersey tops, while glossed leather pants, oversize patchwork knits and boxy jackets echo the cowboy attitude of square toe boots. For accessories, the Antigona Soft carry-all adds a spontaneous touch to a collection with an intimate ode to the modern man.

Fendi, a surprising wardrobe for the modern gentleman

The Fall/Winter 2020-2021 collection designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, Creative Director of the Roman Maison, reimagines the codes of traditional men’s garments. With retro-futurist undertones, the silhouettes presented during Milan Fashion Week unveiled a rich sartorial canon of materials, from melton wool, heavy twill and flannel, to luxurious leathers with trompe l’oeil applications. Designed to be both elegant and functional, coats come with multiple pockets and blazers become modular thanks to zippered panels. The Fendi modern gentleman pairs them with straight pants or shorts, spliced with a skirt at the back.

The FF logo was a leitmotif in the collection, reinterpreted as a chain link pattern on monochrome and multicolor prints. Accessories featured the iconic Baguette and Peekaboo bags in handknit wool. Silvia Venturini Fendi also collaborated with Japanese talent Kunihiko Morinaga, Creative Director of Anrealage and a finalist in the 2019 edition of the LVMH Prize.  Faithful to his futuristic vision of fashion, the designer imagined four silhouettes in photochromic materials that transform when exposed to UV light.