When Simon Porte Jacquemus burst onto the fashion scene five years ago, it was as much for his fluency in the language of social media as it was for his French Riviera-inspired clothing. A runway show in a sprawling lavender field, a hit restaurant at the Galeries Lafayette, campaigns that looked like David Hockney dreamscapes—Jacquemus pre-empted and dominated a fashion industry that hinged on the whims of Instagram.
How does one so adept at knowing what consumers want (the brand’s account has 3.5 million Instagram followers) respond to something as unprecedented and unpredictable as a global pandemic? For Jacquemus the answer was simple: don’t present any clothes at all. For the last year, we’ve been starved of a new Jacquemus runway show, the designer deciding to forgo the usual seasonal rigmarole, instead presenting his fall winter ’21 collection in Paris this afternoon, as part of Men’s Fashion Week, with each piece available for immediate purchase in-store.
“I wanted to focus on the clothes, the silhouettes, the colors, the fabrics, the details and the energy of the models,” the designer wrote in show notes provided to a pared-back front row. “I wanted the set to be minimal and sharp, recreating an abstract artistic mountain that portrays the inspiration of the collection.” Thus: no outlandish sets, no sprawling acres of waist-high wheat, just a sculptural blue backdrop against which the likes of Kendall Jenner, Adut Akech, Bella Hadid, and Imaan Hammam unveiled both womenswear and menswear collections.
Those Jacquemus diehards hankering for a fix will be more than satisfied with this season’s offering: 00s-style cropped suiting was reworked in the brand’s signature shade of grabby magenta, a shrunken fire engine red puffer jacket was thrown over a matching bralette, while models stomped down the runway in furry shearling mules. Satin shirts and micro ribbed cardigans fastened together with a discrete gold Jacquemus clip are sure to be immediate Instagram hits, as is the adorable orange shearling update on the classic ‘Choquito’ bag. Sound tempting? You can shop the collection right now, here.
