Paris Fashion Week Men has been marching on despite a grey threatening sky, as one runway show for the Fall/Winter 2025-26 segues into the next. On Thursday, the week’s third day, the labels on show alternated between two distinct moods. On the one hand, a dark, powerful fashion reflecting the current climate, with Jeanne Friot, Rick Owens and 032c. On the other, the warmer, more cheerful style adopted by more optimistic labels, for example Bluemarble.

The venue chosen by US designer Rick Owens resembled an industrial warehouse, like those he has been frequenting for more than 20 years in Emilia Romagna (central Italy), specifically around the town of Concordia, where his suppliers’ workshops and factories are located. The mood was set by a wall decked with blinding spotlights, a hefty cloud of mist, and David Bowie’s Heroes belting out from the speakers. The half-awake audience was startled and woke up abruptly. The signal for Owens to send out his models.

Perched on vertiginous platform boots, they sported shoulder pads and mini bolero jackets worn over bare torsos, or finely knitted tops that dropped down to the thighs, while the legs were covered by soft long johns in wool jersey, or ultra-flared trousers.

As always, the Rick Owens long silhouettes seemed to stretch endlessly. The impression was heightened by the fringed hems of trousers that flared out below the knee into a voluminous triangle like a rooster’s paw, a feather effect created by leather strips.

His men’s looks happily blended outerwear items with snug loungewear garments, like long john-style shorts, vests, and ultra-thin tank tops with wide plunging necklines. As pendants, the looks featured uber-chic luggage tags in cow hair, a nod to the label’s collaboration with Rimowa.

The trousers, wind-breakers, tops, etc. featured interesting textural surfaces obtained through a variety of treatments developed by the label, always with sustainability in mind.

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Jeanne Friot’s show was a stunner! The queer designer renowned for her commitment to sustainability and inclusivity showed under the Alexandre III Bridge, the same where her famous high-booted rider emerged from the Seine river last summer during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, making Friot the talk of the town.

For Fall/Winter 2025-26, Friot was inspired by Joan of Arc, a character she reinterpreted through several gender-fluid silhouettes, with thigh-high boots made with belt buckles in a starring role. Another theme was armour, at once protective and defensive, which she transposed into her everyday wardrobe. Apart from a few chain-mail items, the majority of the looks were quite wearable, though undoubtedly full of character. For example, denim jackets featured with a silvery finish, in faux leather, or in a shining scarlet padded fabric, worn with either shorts, a mini skirt, or matching boots.

Friot’s distinctive DNA was evident both in the colour palette, with the red, black and silver she is famous for, and through many of her signature items. Like the jeans with ostrich feathers, redesigned this season for a collaboration with Levi’s, and the bras, skirts and bustier dresses entirely made of recycled belts. Belt buckles also cropped up on the printed patterns of dresses and skin-tight suits, and were used to fasten maxi coats and jackets, including a revamped version of the classic black evening jacket.

The collection was infused with powerful bursts of madcap energy. Among the standout elements, the neo-punk black and white check pattern, developed exclusively for Friot, featuring on tonal tie and shirt sets, sport tops, and wrap skirts. In the same black and white register, there was also a skirt suit in houndstooth wool fabric.

“I went back to the label’s DNA and basics, while adding a fresh twist. The shapes are highly structured, with statement shoulders. These are clothes to be worn like armour,” said Friot who, despite her success and the maturity of her collections, is still confined to the presentation calendar.

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Berlin-based label 032c drew a big crowd with its second Paris Fashion Week show, presenting a collection that was a mix between a sombre style and a more bourgeois wardrobe. The luxury streetwear label for women and men was launched in 2016 by the eponymous Berlin store, and in recent years it has won over a broad audience with its ready-to-wear, at once minimalist and contemporary.

Creative Director Maria Koch presented a series of uber-dark total looks with latex gloves and vinyl waders. From a distance, the clutch bag carried by the models, extended by leather straps, looked like a whip. Jackets, trousers and short-sleeved shirts all came in leather. The wardrobe also included large windbreakers, suede ensembles and gabardine jackets. Black was the predominant colour, with military-style khaki accents.

The palette was softened by pastel items like the pale pink wool and felt coats worn with matching backpack, or the mint green belt contrasting with a black look. Unexpected white daisies grew on a black mohair sweater, while some of the ladies strutted in black tights and briefs only, a double belt at the waist.

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The register was wholly different at Bluemarble, where Anthony Alvarez welcomed his guests at tea time with tables laden with cakes, stacks of crêpes and other gourmet treats. The US-born Franco-Filipino designer immersed the audience in the warm feel of the childhood teas he used to enjoy with his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in the French town of Feucherolles, in the Yvelines countryside, where he lived between the ages of eight and 17.

Alvarez has jettisoned the Instagrammable excesses of recent seasons to focus on a cosier everyday wardrobe, designed for a stroll both in the countryside and in the city, though always paying his customary attention to materials, cuts and details. Turquoise or red windbreakers were worn under thick coats with wide, brightly coloured lapels.

Cable-knit sweaters in plush wool were accented by intarsia at the elbows, as if they were worn or hole-riddled. They were topped by thick neck warmers decorated by tassels ending in pearls and rods, like old lampshades. Epochs collided in Bluemarble’s collection, whose contemporary style blended with memories of the past, not without a hint of nostalgia. Like the patterns on some T-shirts, seemingly faded by the passage of time, or the embroidered patches with retro city badges, featured on hoodies and jeans. “My mother was curious about everything. We used to go on adventures to meet new people, bringing back a magnet for each city we visited,” said Alvarez.

Everything exuded comfort. Like the sweaters draped over the shoulders, the oversized sheepskin jackets in dazzling colours, the trousers slipped into suede cowboy boots, the puffy tracksuit tops decorated with lace patterns, and the large throws dotted with crystals, ideal for wrapping up warm.