Document highlights Paris’ week of sartorial disruption backstage with photographer Julien Boudet in the slideshow above.

Kenzo

Stepping away from previously politicized offerings, Kenzo designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon found a renewed focus on joy and beauty for Spring/Summer 2018. With their use of color saturated and texturally diverse outerwear, the duo tested nearly every design under the sun: mesmerizing stripes, fuzz covered sweaters, three different sorts of floral patterns, vivid color-blocked, statuesque jackets, and more. High-waisted pants—reminiscent of 50’s baseball trousers—and retro NASCAR motifs added even more diversity.

Dior Homme

Slim-fitted tailoring led Dior Homme’s Spring 2018 collection by Kris Van Assche in the form of nipped waists, crisp logo patches, and shorn-off arms—a sense of youth and subversive revolt following the lead of his counterpart, Maria Grazia Chiuri, last season. Worn beautifully with the designer’s subverted elegance were large soled sneakers, instantly imbuing each look with a sense of nostalgic ease. Keeping color primarily to hues of maroon and red, schoolboy looks were trotted out in varsity striped sweater vests and outerwear paired with short shorts and skull-adorned necklaces and bracelets.

Above The Fold

Hermès

Designer Veronique Nichanian showed her mastery of proportions and detailing for Hermès’ Spring 2018 collection. Immutable and nonchalant, relaxed chinos and denim were paired with shirts and blazers of deep burgundy, clay, and emerald. Workwear stitching and scaled leather added touches of toughness but overall the collection oozed a refined cool: expert craftsmanship counterbalanced by relaxed, villa-ready easiness.

Balenciaga

While others looked to youth for reinvigoration, Demna Gvasalia took Balenciaga older, turning his gaze to the family man. Ever the reinventor of the seemingly banal, the designer proportioned his shirts and his jackets to the ungainly, the uncouth. Short sleeve polos, with their sleeves past the elbow, and blazers and Hawaiian-print shirts near formless, challenged rigid traditions of the male silhouette. Logomania, never to be forgotten, showed itself as an homage to the power of the E.U. as “Europa” appeared throughout, alongside the resolute platitude—“the power of dreams.”

Études Studio

An ode to the city. Donning métro tickets and Parisian landmarks, the multi-faceted Études Studio—helmed by Jérémie Égry and Aurélien Arbet—created a straightforward but fresh Spring/Summer 2018 collection that weaved its way from turquoise and white striped looks—a direct reference to the train—to denim overalls and goldenrod yellow workwear. What more can be said of this love-drenched sonnet? “Paris! Ville de nos rêves.” (Paris! City of our dreams.)

Backstage OAMC Spring/Summer 2018 photographed by Julien Boudet for Document.

Facetasm

“An unconventional harmony created by dissonance” was the idea driving the Spring/Summer 2018 collection by Facetasm. This dissonance was shown through an array of clashing ideas and cultures: cumbersome overalls paired with a floor length tuxedo, a beautiful sky blue leather rain jacket worn with torn denim shorts, and workwear-esque outerwear held billowing capes. The collection was a visual cacophony of textures and styles, each clashing and working their way to push toward the front.

OAMC

Focused on truth and on protest, OAMC designer Luke Meier found inspiration in beatnik legend Allen Ginsberg, using his seminal work “Howl and Other Poems” throughout the collection. Rigid, boxy jackets—traditional in form—were marked with “Veritas,” and sat atop sharp, near military lines of the crisp tailored pants and black leather boots that propped up many of the looks. A pristine trenchcoat appeared, “People for Peace” on one arm, the other wrist blackened out.

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