Paris Fashion Week Women got off to a great start on Monday. Light or darkness? On the week’s opening day, it was a matter of choosing between two absolutely contrasting styles. Between the irreverent, ironic fashion of New York label Vaquera, and the delicate style of Japanese label CFCL, a mix of contemporary minimalism and age-old techniques.

Vaquera shocked its guests, staging a runway show inside a dark garage to an eardrum-bursting soundtrack. The tone was clearly set, ushering in gigantic hats, burgeoning volumes and sexy outfits. As well as denim and leather looks, alongside sporty, laid-back items. Designers Bryn Taubensee and Patric DiCaprio had an absolute blast, blending genres without ever losing their sense of humour, and creating a young, free-spirited and eye-catching wardrobe.

Vaquera was founded in 2013 and has just fêted its 10th anniversary. For Spring/Summer 2025, it has gone back to basics. The show featured signature items like the black leather cowboy trousers, the sailor’s cap with the Vaquera logo, and the maxi belt with multiple rows of giant eyelets. Not to mention fake fur, used in oversize coats for that Yeti look, no doubt ideal for next summer, and the bra with pointed breast-cups, worn this season like a corset covering the entire torso, incorporating even the arms, the better to immobilise them.

As usual, Vaquera’s style was full of subversive touches, though it also seemed to mellow down a little. While still keen to retain its identity, the label is now relying “on easy-to-wear clothes and a new idea of [wardrobe] essentials. It is not so much a case of starting afresh, but of perfecting concepts and ideas to transform them into Vaquera essentials, easy to wear and to buy,” said the label in the introductory note.

As well as cycling jerseys, lace corsets, cotton shirts, blazers, cropped tops, distressed jeans, and shorts, Vaquera presented a complete wardrobe for day and evening, interspersed with wacky items like the white satin tutu shaped like a giant doughnut. 

Vaquera is distributed via 60 multibrand retailers worldwide, notably in the U.S. and Asia, where it has lately been growing, and is looking to expand its product range. This season, it has introduced a footwear collection, notably with stiletto-heeled cowboy boots, a striking eyewear line, and a first jewellery collection, developed in collaboration with D’heygere.

The register was different at CFCL (Clothing for Contemporary Life). Yusuke Takahashi, a knitwear specialist who founded the label in 2020, is showing in Paris for the second time, after making his maiden appearance in February. Like last season, the label was appreciated for the simple elegance of its creations, at once so practical and sophisticated. The dresses, skirts, trousers, shorts, tops and suits were mostly in white, black or navy blue. 

Zipped hooded jackets with ruffled sleeves knitted in ultra-fine thread created an almost sheer effect, matched with short flared skirts. A royal blue dress expanded with undulating volumes, as though it was modelled by hand. Other items, with microscopic ribbing, gave a feeling of extreme lightness. In some ensembles, colourful threads were mixed to create striped pleats and 3D effects.

Takahashi, who worked for a long time at Issey Miyake, has developed a 3D knitting technology that combines traditional techniques with digital tools, enabling him to greatly reduce fabric waste. He also utilises recycled yarn. Takahashi is unmatched at skilfully using ribbing, pleats, stitching and threads to create unique garments. In this latest collection, Takahashi drew his inspiration from age-old expertise handed over generation after generation in many countries around the world, especially from Asia and Africa, as he explained. 

To better illustrate his approach, Takahashi chose the Sirom music trio from Slovenia to provide the show’s soundtrack. The trio “plays all sorts of traditional instruments,” said Takahashi, who loves to adopt ancient techniques to create his contemporary, everyday collections. While some models, like the long black mermaid dress, are efficiently machine-knitted, it takes the painstaking work of human hands to decorate them, inserting countless tassels into over 2,000 little holes, one by one.

The last two models on the runway, a white mini dress and a longer black one, had a more experimental feel. They were made without using machinery, by stitching together a patchwork of crocheted doilies with organic patterns.