Rei Kawakubo redefines men’s suits with radical designs at Paris Fashion Week

PARIS (AP) — Rei Kawakubo, the ever-restless force behind Comme des Garçons, delivered a characteristically unpredictable twist on men’s tailoring, dismantling the traditional suit and remaking it in her own radical image.

Titled “Not Suits, But Suits,” the Paris Fashion Week show had models striding through a packed, overheated concrete venue Friday evening in looks that both nodded to and defied the idea of formalwear.

Classic suit elements, jackets, lapels, pressed trousers, were reimagined with sharp, architectural interventions: bulging hips, layered or panniered silhouettes, and unexpected splashes of color.

Some jackets appeared as if spliced apart and reassembled, while skinny pants revealed hidden panels and bursts of pattern through carefully placed zippers.

Layering abounded, with cropped jackets stacked over pleated shirting, kilts and shorts. Knitwear was shredded and reconstructed, echoing a sense of disorder within the tailored frame. Accessories pushed the eccentricity further — models wore oversized, multi-brimmed caps crafted from suiting fabrics, paired with long braided wigs and formal shoes.

The collection evoked the need for something transformative in unsettled times. Its atmosphere only heightened the collection’s message: in Kawakubo’s world, the suit is not a uniform of conformity but a canvas for disruption.

As guests spilled out into the night, applause rang out for a designer who continues to turn fashion’s certainties inside out.