For ERL‘s autumn-winter 2025, Eli Russell Linnetz dialed down on the usual theatrics, and came up with a collection for the Cooper Kochs of the world. By that I mean the guys with naturally-born, red-carpet-heartthrob swagger that can equally pull off a ready-for-Gstaad ski-look or a Giorgio Armani luncheon in a perfectly-cut jacket and flared denim pants. The ultimate highlight coming from the Venice Beach-based designer? The menswear accessory that’s hopefully having a grand return: the cummerbund. He styled it over a black shirt and oversized pleated pants a black shirt, and finished the look with a cocoon-shaped duvet jacket. I like this new direction at ERL.
This season’s Rick Owens man is both goth and fit. He will show off his muscular torso while wearing a crop-top with padded, Nosferatu-sih shoulders. Tyron Dylan, Rick’s muse, looked like the yassified version of Count Orlock. The elongated, supernatural look was omnipresent in the autumn-winter 2025 collection. This time, the designer was interested in the idea of essentials. Cropped shearling sweaters and coats in black were cut up to the base of the rib cage, while double-face wool caftans in cream were cut down to the knee. Skimpy wide-leg shorts were (sometimes) made secure with thermal long johns of a type Owens only became an evangelical fan of after moving from California to Europe. “It’s about, How can I get rid of stuff and make the stuff that I really need as special as possible?’ And that is a good exercise when thinking about making clothes in the world the way it is today.” It was also a good exercise in showing clothes that, once acquired, you’d wish never to be parted from.
For the second season in a row, I had the unbelievably beautiful experience of seeing the Comme Des Garçons collection IRL, at the brand’s showroom near Place Vendome in Paris. It’s always quite a striking contrast: first you’ve got to cross all the bling-bling flagships, from Cartier to Van Cleef & Arpels, and then you suddenly immerse into the world of Comme. And if you’re lucky, Rei Kawakubo, the mastermind creative and founder of the brand, stands there, just behind the glass wall of her office, keeping her finger pretty much everything this company stands for. Really, not many 82-year old designers of her status are that present in their brands. Actually, not many designers of any age are THAT present in their brands.
Visiting the Comme Des Garçons showroom lets you truly understand Kawakubo’s clothes. Of course, attending the label’s fashion show is a dream, ranked high up in my wishlist of things to do. But at the showroom, you can see the garments upclose, feel their emotional deepness, and be struck by their extraordinary craftsmanship. Sharing the space with the designer herself adds a TRUE Benjamin-esque aura to it, too.
The autumn-winter 2025 collection from the menswear Homme Plus line had a loud, clear statement: “To hell with war”. Confronting the reality that young boys and men are being called up for army service, being sent to kill or be killed by countries across the world, can easily fall dumb-flat in case of fashion. But not when Kawakubo does it, so poignantly and movingly. And in any case, her position was straightforward: her young Comme soldiers are peaceniks. Their metal hats self-decorated with flowers or wrapped in fancy, vintage fabrics felt naive, but in a heart-warming, hopeful way. In their deconstructed field jackets and brass-buttoned army officer’s uniforms, they were “soldiers of love”, as Sade once sang.
Rebel and resist. For love, beauty and freedom. Rei, you’re a force.
Nobody understands French guys’ style like Gauthier Borsarello. Since his appointment in 2021, the designer – and avid vintage collector, just check his ReSee selection! – has worked relentlessly to redefine Fursac’s position in contemporary menswear. This season he presented the brand’s first runway collection: an utterly chic mix of great tailoring with seductive nonchalance (dialed up with unexpected details like yellow leather gloves or crotchet ties), so natural to Parisian men. Executed with the styling help of Imruh Asha, the collection plays with the style images of renowned Frenchmen: think Jacques Dutronc, Alain Delon, and the boys of Nouvelle vague.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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“The gesture allows the clothes to exist,” said Hed Mayner backstage at his autumn-winter 2025 fashion show a week ago. How true this sentence is. You can have the most finely made garment in the universe, but if it just hangs in the closet, does it even matter? Clothes need a person’s gesture to be alive. But some clothes work harder, and once they are given life, they in return transform the wearer’s body language.
Of all contemporary menswear designers, Mayner balances utility with beauty of clothes in the most supreme way. And his new season perfecto jackets, leather pants and fringed shawls not only make you want to wear them, but also gesticulate in them – a lot. The fit of his over-sized wool-felt coat is so graphic and bold it creates a real silhouette. Same can be said of the sharp, yet round-edged plaid tailoring and meaty-velvet culottes. I can totally confirm what I’m saying, as I had the utmost pleasure of trying some of these garments in the label’s showroom. They truly transform your stature, give confidence, but at the same time seamlessly convey this “don’t bother me” attitude, just like Yohji Yamamoto’s designs.
Design & Culture by Ed 