Man’s world: Lanvin urges return to elegance

Paris – Downtown underworld met uptown chic at Lanvin’s autumn/winter 2011 menswear show yesterday as creative director Alber Elbaz described the need for the young to ‘return to elegance’.

Lucas Ossendrijver, the label’s menswear designer, said the collection was about ‘surreal and subversive’ inspirations where tailoring from an old world of the 30s combined with modern sportswear of the 00s – a juxtaposition for which the brand has become well known.

Buyers praised the outerwear offer at Lanvin. ‘The collection was full of great coats, from the laser-cut slim trench to the padded shrug-on parka. It’s time men invested in coats again,’ David Walker-Smith, menswear director at Selfridges, told LS:N Global.

As in Milan, Paris menswear brands reflected LS:N Global’s trend for New Gents.