The Men’s FW25 Shows that Made the Biggest Impact

As another men’s fashion week draws to a close, the messages of the season’s most impactful collections continue to resonate. From Milan to Paris, these brands demonstrated the importance of art in the face of unrest and during politically charged times. 

PRADA

Last Sunday at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons expanded on Prada’s spring summer theme of the importance of personal style in the age of AI and algorithms. 

Titled “Uninterrupted Instinct,” the men’s FW25 collection explored existential topics including unlearned reactions, automatic responses and primitive instincts. “Artificial decisions are abandoned in favor of the truth and honesty of spontaneous choices,” read the show notes. 

This spontaneity flowed through a series of contrasting elements, both in the clothing and set design. Transforming the Fondazione Prada Deposito into a multi-storied industrial maze, offset by floral tactile carpets designed by Catherine Martin, the set mimicked the contradictory vibe of the collection. 

Bare chests, 2000s skinny jeans and faux fur jackets were shown alongside brown knit shirts and slick tailored pants, tucked into floral cuban heeled boots, altogether conveying an experimental attitude that AI is utterly incapable of generating – true personality. 

COMME DES GARÇONS HOMME PLUS

Titled “To Hell With War,” Rei Kawakubo’s message for the FW25 Comme des Garçons Homme Plus collection was strong in every respect. The first looks were a Comme des Garçons-take on a traditional military uniform look – khaki jackets with matching trousers – before moving into more deconstructed looks featuring ballooning and billowy pants. As the collection progressed, a climax of colours and more feminine silhouettes infiltrated the utilitarian flow, perhaps signalling a peaceful moment amid the darkness.  

WALES BONNER

Releasing a lookbook instead of hosting a show didn’t stop Grace Wales Bonner’s latest offering from being one of the most talked about collections of the season. The clothing featured archival prints from Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates’ Black Image Corporation project. 

Inspired by the ways in which Black Women influence global culture, Bonner developed printed fabric using a selection of images from the archives of Ebony and Jet magazines. Shown on an electric bright blue button down, a matching jacquard denim jacket and shorts set, and a simple white boxy tee, Bonner gave the images by Moneta Sleet Jr. and Isaac Sutton new life. 

WILLY CHAVARRIA

For his Paris Fashion Week debut, Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarria shared a personal message behind his collection: a note on the importance of community. 

Shown at the first American Episcopal Church established outside of the United States, the collection, titled ‘Tarantula,’ embraced Chavarria’s multicultural history. The designer drew on the Chicano style present in Mexican Los Angeles culture, where he grew up with his Mexican father and Irish-American mother. 

The first looks embraced the style the designer has become renowned for – boxy suits with large collars – before heading into a mix of ’40s tailored dresses and pencil skirts, and ending with Chavarria’s latest Adidas collection. 

While the whole collection felt like a beautiful celebration of the designer’s community, a political ending captured the current feeling of those from queer communities and immigrant families in the US. As the models walked the finale, led by Chavarria, the sound of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s words confronting President Trump during Tuesday’s Inaugural Prayer Service came over the speakers. 

“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives,” she said. “Have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”