In a menswear season dominated by K-pop frenzy and theater shows, Winnie designer Idris Balogun is back to the essentials. After several seasons of artist collaborations, his first runway show at Paris Fashion Week was about clothes.
Models were dressed in a mix of traditional tailoring and sportswear elements and strolled through private apartments overlooking the Arc de Triomphe. For example, he layered his mandarin-colored denim jacket over his suit jacket.
Balogun took a freewheeling approach to formal wear, pairing a tuxedo jacket with faded dyed jeans. The suit was dressed down with a plaid shirt and polo top, while a matching gray shirt and cargo pants provided a smart alternative to the traditional office uniform.
His tailoring confidence reflects his training at Savile Row in London and his experience as senior menswear designer for Burberry and Tom Ford. But Balogun’s colors can add some sophistication to his palette.
One of last year’s winners of the Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize at the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, he is the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton fashion and leather goods brand.
“I designed this collection at a time when it felt like there was a lot going on in the industry. There were a lot of similar stories and concepts. I wanted to go back to the days of , I fell in love with the fashion of Savile Row with nothing but fabric and chalk and scissors on the cutting table,” he said after the show.
