Lemaire Menswear Spring/Summer 2020 Paris – The Seventies-inspired line had a sharpness in the cut which looked impeccably controlled, and had nothing to do with the decade’s hippy side.
Triggering a flashback to the label’s band T-shirt days, cult Krautrock band Can was a major reference here, with album cover graphics adorning the front of a blue intarsia sweater, the chest of a white T-shirt and other items of the collection as Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran refined their Seventies-inspired wardrobe staples.
Mixing signature workwear with a slight Asian aspect with references to vintage proportions and motifs from the era, like on the first monochrome look matching a roomy black denim carpenter pant with a washed black cotton shirt, its peak collar resting on the contrasting cream collar of a sporty zipped, cropped jacket.
The Seventies theme pushed further with the textural raw silk/wool blends on gray coat suits with tapered pants and scarf-print shirts worn with high-waisted cropped and flared tailored pants, all accessorized with dressy leather belts and dandy Chelsea boots with a slight heel.
That retro touch was also translated in the various check motifs of the peaked collar shirting, one so overblown it evoked kitchen wallpaper, or in the grandpa-flavored knitted polo shirts.
Best embodied in the denim — raw and stiff and pressed with a crease — the collection had a certain sharpness in the cut, which looked controlled, and had nothing to do with the decade’s hippy side.