The Paris Fall-Winter 2025-2026 collections reveal a striking evolution in the way contemporary men express themselves, blending fluid identities with primal contrasts to challenge conventional fashion boundaries

Words DOMENICO CASORIA

Fragile, bold, full of pathos, harmless, stoic, wild, and sometimes on the brink.The men of Paris Fashion Week are everything and the opposite of everything. And that’s precisely the beauty of the Fall-Winter 2025-2026 menswear collections presented in Paris. No fixed point, a wild swing of emotions – negative, positive, primordial – that reflect the essence of life. In Paris, men came to terms with who they truly want to be and understood that the process is long and arduous. From Rick Owens’ dark creatures to Louis Vuitton’s creative synthesis, Dior’s men undergoing metamorphosis, the imaginary journey between dream and reality of KidSuper, and Willy Chavarria’s inclusive world, everyone chose their side. Will they come out better for it? Will they come out at all?

Louis Vuitton

Creating a dialogue. At Paris Fashion Week Men’s, Louis Vuitton’s Fall-Winter 2025-2026 collection stems from a creative synthesis with Nigo and represents a model for future collaborations. “Remember The Future” is based precisely on the dialogue between Pharrell Williams and Nigo, their past, their music, and their vision. It’s a visual narrative of their history but also a journey between East and West, between two different worlds that often communicate with one another. The Louis Vuitton runway journey begins with the archives – those of the ’80s and the early 2000s – reinterpreted to tell the story of how we’ll dress tomorrow. As always, the clothes become the instrument. On the runway, tailored suits inspired by dandy aesthetics appear, featuring LV checks and damier, leather jackets, bombers, and varsity rackets. Details abound on embroidered cardigans with crystal applications and pants adorned with graffiti-style logos. Pharrell and Nigo lay the groundwork for a future fashion society, starting from a shared sense of community. No pretense – just reality as it is.

Rick Owens

On the edge, searching for a tomorrow. These are Rick Owens’ Concordians. Inspired by his trips to Concordia sulla Secchia in Italy’s Modena province, where Owens produces his garments, the collection blends cutting-edge materials, his signature darkness, dystopian vibes, brutalism, introspection, and a relentless push beyond boundaries. Highlighting bold, daring pieces (including a collaboration with Rimowa), Owens expands the limits of his aesthetic while staying autobiographical and true to himself. His runway narrative comes alive through sharp silhouettes, sculptural elements, leather pants, deep necklines, harnesses, and rope details. From shirts crafted in bleached crocodile to laser-cut chain skirts, Owens treads a fine line. Accessories, on the other hand, convey dynamism. This season, inflatable boots are dressed in leather feathers with a laser-cut structure, thanks to a collaboration with Parisian designer Victor Clavelly.

Dior Homme

Descending a white staircase is Dior’s man – balanced, yet risking it all. For this collection, Kim Jones seemed more like an alchemist than a designer. Decoration and rigor, weights and counterweights, cycles and returns. These allowed him to reinterpret the famous H-line introduced by Monsieur Dior in 1954. Jones brings low waists back to the runway, plays with volumes, controls draping, transforms coats into skirts, and draws from the opera coats of women’s couture. He cinches waists, emphasizes legs, infuses men with theater, drama, and poetry. He builds an aura around them – a term young people often use. He charms them, then makes them angular. Covers their eyes, bares their arms. Fills them with pathos, then renders them harmless. Dresses them in white, blue, and even abandons himself to black. He minimizes the casual layers that have always characterized his style. He does everything and its opposite, remaining faithful to himself while crafting a narrative that draws from the women’s archives to reinterpret male codes. A breath of fresh air.

Hermès

Feeling confident in your clothes. Garments as home. Tools to feel at ease and inhabit time. This is Véronique Nichanian’s starting point for her new collection, which works on an architectural vision of the body, balanced between extremes, power, and refinement. On the runway, tailored jackets highlight the body, long trench coats, striped sweaters, and velvet suits. It’s not a safe harbor nor a comfort zone to retreat into. The clothes are welcoming but leave room for challenges—no matter the outcome.

IM MEN

Nomads searching for a future – this is Issey Miyake’s man. IM Men Issey Miyake, debuting on the runway this season in place of Homme Plissé, is founded on one principle: cutting garments from a single piece of fabric, with deep interventions. A surgical work that brings innocence in lines to the runway and the practicality of clothes inspired by the maison’s founder. It’s a primitive nomadism for Miyake’s man: materials and techniques transform a piece of fabric into creative expression. A garment that takes shape almost autonomously on the body. A collection presented through a performance-installation aiming to establish a new method: dressing the future by returning to the past. Primal.

Willy Chavarria

It was his debut collection in Paris, and Willy Chavarria made it grand. Boldly taking a stand, which isn’t a given these days. Chavarria, in a time of historical uncertainty, draws on anything that can build a message of hope. He draws from his cultural heritage, blending Mexican folklore with Los Angeles streetwear. Chavarria’s man is one at the border, merging traditional masculinity with contemporary sensuality. A poetry that speaks of inclusivity, acceptance, diversity, and respect for everyone. In an American Episcopal church, Tarantula unfolds – a blend of mysticism and reality, faith and hope. On the runway, suits inspired by Latin American aesthetics and dandy style in rich, luxurious fabrics like velvet and satin alternate with references to California, where the designer grew up. Cowboy hats with floral decorations, structured workwear suits with broad shoulders. Rosaries in hand asking for respect. Sacred and profane.

KidSuper

“From A Place I Have Never Been” is KidSuper’s journey back, transporting Paris to an ethereal, evanescent, intangible, and colorful universe. For the Fall-Winter collection, Colm Dillane once again blurs the lines between art and storytelling, transforming clothes into wearable narratives. The silhouettes are oversized, and layered pieces suggest the body is on a journey. Long coats in hues like rust, burgundy, and mustard pair with sculptural leather pieces. The colors paint the place Dillane has never been, physically building the collection. A journey between dream and reality comes alive through accessories: oversized bags adorned with whimsical illustrations, bundled sneakers, and wide-brimmed hats. A world he’s never been to, yet it looks beautiful.

Yohji Yamamoto

Darkness as usual. Yamamoto as usual. Yohji Yamamoto presented a new collection focused on outerwear, sending models down the runway wrapped in heavy jackets and long coats. Organized chaos. Dark colors, thick jackets, and utility-style trousers decorated with leg pockets narrate another chapter of Yamamoto. Always using clothing to communicate refined, often challenging emotions and messages. For instance, some coats featured printed phrases like “Despair is the conclusion of a fool” or “Sadness and suffering are the flowers of life.” Another dualism played on opposites.

Comme des Garçons Homme Plus

Men who fight. To stop fighting. With “To Hell With War,” Comme des Garçons Homme Plus presents Rei Kawakubo’s stance against the military symbols and iconography that have surged back into fashion. Kawakubo chooses to use uniforms, helmets, and camouflage but softens them with vibrant colors meant to render them harmless.

Acne Studios

You can be whoever you want, whenever you want, however you want. Jonny Johansson leads Acne Studios’ man into contemporary living. On the runway, a collection teetering between tailored suits and provocation, workwear and formal clothing, office-inspired looks from the ’70s, and deconstructed streetwear. Above all, the fusion with feminine attire shapes one side of masculinity. Plenty of denim paired with office-striped shirts and ironic ties, as well as checkered boxers, emerging from underwear to pair with tweed jackets and tailored coats.

Lanvin

Ending with class. To start anew. Peter Copping makes his debut as the creative director of Lanvin with a collection that embraces the maison’s heritage and Parisian elegance. The co-ed show opens with total black: coats with clean, sharp lines, dresses characterized by draping. Then come the sequins to highlight femininity, oversized cardigans, and cuffed trousers for men. For his debut, Copping aims to amaze, concealing dialogues between textures and storytelling within the folds of the garments.