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May 26, 2023

The Coolest Stuff From Paris Fashion Week FW21

The Fall/Winter 2021 collections are out in the open following a second digital

The Fall/Winter 2021 collections are out in the open following a second digital edition of Paris Fashion Week, meaning our "want it now" lists just got a healthy refresher.

While the first digital fashion week last June saw brands weather the awkward transfer from IRL to dot com with varying degrees of success, now, a digital offering feels standard and appears to be canonized as "the new normal."

So, with the return of physical fashion shows still pending, the FW21 trend barometer is pointing to exposed undergarments, multi-garments, cowboy boots, and avant-garde cuts for the Fall/Winter seasons ahead.

In no particular order, here's a rundown of some of the coolest pieces we saw.

Rick Owens made underwear for his collaboration with Champion, but this is the brand's first singular offering for men's briefs – and with a pentagram stitched on the fly, tighty-whities have never looked cooler.

The combination of high heels and a coat with lingerie underneath is a cinematic trope that implies seduction. Here, it's been gender-flipped to examine modern masculinity and the suppressed rage within. As a lifelong admirer of fashion designer Larry LeGaspi and rock band KISS, Owens may have been inspired by the lyrics from the band's 1988 track "Let's Put the X in Sex" too.

All the hallmarks of GmbH come through in this image: the diagonal zippers, vegan materials, and protective integrated gauntlets on the sleeves. Giddy-up space cowboy.

It's hard to say where this outfit begins, ends, or how it looks when it's not tied together, but it definitely is a look.

Note the cowboy boots too, a fashion reference that's been laid on pretty thick since about 2018, and we're not even mad that it's still going.

The Prada glove-bags were a stand-out from Miuccia and Raf's debut menswear offering. The leather construction means it's unlikely you’ll be able to use your phone in these, but maybe reducing access to doomscrolling is preferable this year.

The high-fashion long-john has been a long time coming. Thank you Miuccia and Raf for making a Uniqlo Heattech habit appropriate for the Paris Fashion week crowds.

Lazoschmidl, the German-Swedish brand from Andreas Schmidl and Josef Lazo offered a variety of lascivious pieces for FW21, including a latex top styled with leather lace-up shorts.

Also, more cowboy boots?

"Clothes that look like other clothes" was a big vibe for FW21 and LOEWE offered the best example by fashioning an iconic piece of menswear into zippered, multi-belted pants.

Finally, a spiritual successor to this image from 2001. Creative director Glenn Martens' trademark style of "clothes amalgamating into other clothes" is a surrealist abstraction that's perfectly applicable for the current era where nothing is quite what it seems.

More accessories we didn't think we needed. Also, styling these with matching shorts creates an" invisible pant-leg" in the negative space, which feels very avant-garde for something designed to prevent cramps.

Etro took the sweater vest from "your dad" to "daddy" for FW21. The pegasus gilet arrived in neon fuchsia, blue, and chartreuse and looks like the most wearable version of the sweater vest yet, and it's available already.

This coat looks like you're perpetually standing under a magnificent window where the light is coming in just right. Glorious.

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Ok, it wasn't just cowboy boots after all. The CdG show revealed a new chapter to its ongoing collaboration with Nike that previewed a black and white version of the Air Foamposite One with a labyrinthian design on the side panel.

First seen on Kim Kardashian, these ab templates are the perfect solution to the closure of gyms worldwide.

If you’ve ever accidentally tried to squeeze your head through your sleeve because you’re getting dressed in a hurry, then these multi-opening pieces from Y/Project might resonate. For FW21 looking messy equated to looking put-together, and clock the exposed underwear above the unbuttoned pants too.

Botter's FW21 "Romancing the Coral Reef" collection featured some delectable cream tailoring with a hip-flask-shaped leather bag strapped to the chest. For some reason, the accompanying drone looks incredibly chic, too.