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The best look from Men’s Fashion Week in Milan and Paris was seen on a woman.
On Monday, the actor Anya Taylor-Joy wore a Poiret-inspired coat from the Jonathan Anderson–designed Dior men’s show to Anderson’s debut Dior couture show. The coat, which had been shown on the runway just a few days before, was sumptuous, with jewel-colored textiles and a cocoon shape hearkening back to the early 20th century, plus winter-appropriate enormous fur cuffs. I want the coat more than anything I’ve ever wanted from a women’s Dior collection.
I hope it comes as no shock that gender is fluid—despite what the state and federal governments might decree—and that the way we all dress is too. And yet we still have men’s fashion weeks and women’s fashion weeks because that’s how clothes are largely merchandised in stores, although I wonder how long that will last. Still, I thought I would go to the men’s shows late this January and play by the rules, but still break them: by keeping an eye on clothes that women should wear from the men’s collections.
Designers seem to believe that we can all borrow from one another, as many brands—Armani, Zegna, Kartik Research, Our Legacy, Auralee, Lemaire—incorporated female models into their shows. Besides, the male models walking down the runway with their long hair and lean bodies and androgynous features only added to the idea that these are just clothes; anyone can put them on. Whether they suit you is less about whether you’re a man or a woman and more about whether you can pull off the sheer number of shades of purple (lavender to eggplant to shades that almost looked gray) that Leo Dell’Orco sent down the runway at Armani.
The influence of tailoring has recently had women in the strongest chokehold in decades, perhaps since the 1980s. Think of the endless crews of 20-something girls wearing oversized blazers with skirts or giant faded jeans and roaming metropolitan cities. Many other women have learned that trousers are a lot more comfortable than denim. With that in mind, women would look great in the softly tailored suits of Armani. The show was held at Giorgio Armani’s own home, and the brand always make an argument of: What if you just wore a uniform of suits? Maybe. Zegna sent a woman of a certain age down the runway with a matching blouse, pants, and jacket, all woven in sand and rust, and only continued the argument for tailoring.
Dries Van Noten’s men’s collections, now designed by Julian Klausner, have always hinted at what’s to come in its women’s collections. This time they could have been one and the same, with male models dressed in kilts in quiet colors and an array of bright knitwear. The shirts with delicate floral patterns would translate well to a woman’s wardrobe (maybe an oversized one open over a tank and a skirt in the summer), as would the cinched-waist floral pants in slinky fabrics. Everyone should try to preorder the floral parkas because they will surely sell out.
Shirts were also a focal point at Prada, particularly ones with trailing, unbuttoned cuffs. More and more women in my life are buying and wearing tuxedo shirts and others with French cuffs, and Prada’s show felt in conversation with that emerging styling choice. Speaking of styling tricks to steal, the foppish ties that almost looked like silk scarves or ribbons at the Yohji Yamamoto show would be a good alternative for women who want some kind of necktie but think a traditional men’s tie reads too costumey.
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Marisa Meltzer
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