The China Mail - Saint Laurent kicks off Paris men's fashion week

Saint Laurent kicked things off with a spring-summer 2026 collection mixing shorts with strong shoulder pads, plus rolled-up darted trousers with loose trench coats nonchalantly tied at the waist.

Shorts, evoking those worn by the label's founder, Yves Saint Laurent, in his youth, were paired with bright and loose long-sleeved shirts and finished off with oversized sunglasses.

The show, set to be followed by Louis Vuitton's Pharrell Williams, marked Saint Laurent's official return to the fashion week fold after a two-and-a-half-year absence from the Paris men's fashion official calendar.

Heads have been rolling across much of the luxury industry as bumper profits have plunged, with brands grappling with a reduced appetite for luxury products.

Saint Laurent's parent group Kering is no exception, with a drop in sales last year wiping 28 percent off its share price since the turn of the year.

But shares shot back up 12 percent last week after former Renault boss Luca de Meo was named as Kering's new chief executive.

Fashion buyer Alice Feillard of Galeries Lafayette, Europe's biggest department store chain, said the return of Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello to men's fashion week was "rather a good thing", and would help reinforce the label's men's line.

- 'Coffee bean brown' denims -

Ahead of his show scheduled later Tuesday, Williams, the American singer-turned-designer, teased his latest creation -- "coffee bean brown" denims -- in a social media post.

The man who got the world dancing to his catchy hit "Happy" predicted the new Louis Vuitton jeans he will unveil at his Paris show will become a "future staple" in fashionable wardrobes.

Williams posted a rear-end photo of the roomy medium-brown jeans on Instagram, saying they are "woven -- not dyed", and are finished with an untreated leather belt loop echoing Vuitton's monogram and the fashion house's trunk-making roots.

The singer and producer usually draws a galaxy of music, film and sports stars to his Paris shows, the locations often as glamorous as his guest list.

This time Williams is putting his Vuitton bags down in front of the Pompidou Centre modern art museum just before the architectural icon closes for a major overhaul.

US basketball legend LeBron James and French San Antonio Spurs star Victor "Wemby" Wembanyama are likely to be there as ambassadors for the brand, as well as Olympic swimming sensation Leon Marchand.

The invitation sent to guests, a set of dice in a leather keyring case, hints the designer may be taking something of a gamble.

- Anderson's Dior debut -

The packed six days of Paris shows are in stark contrast to London -- which cancelled its men's shows completely -- and the rather thinned-out line-up in Milan last week.

The French capital will see a "rather dense programme with big headliners including Jonathan Anderson", who will be making his highly anticipated debut at Dior on Friday, said Adrien Communier of French GQ magazine.

The Northern Irish designer is the first to oversee the men's, women's and haute couture lines at the fabled French house since its founder, Christian Dior.

In all, some 70 brands will unveil their latest looks across 40 runway shows and 30 presentations that end late Sunday with the French label Jacquemus.

Anderson, the son of former Irish rugby captain Willie Anderson, had previously turned around the rather fusty Spanish house Loewe. He was named as the head of Dior's women's collection earlier this month, replacing the Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Belgian Julian Klausner, 33, who took over at Dries Van Noten in December, will also show his first men's collection for the label on Wednesday.

Communier predicted the trend for stripes "which we saw a lot in Milan is going to continue".

But with men's fashion becoming a "little bit dull" in recent years, he said, we "really need to be surprised".

D.Wang--ThChM