Paris menswear: 3. Paradis, Egonlab and Auralee

A key reason to come to Paris Fashion Week is to witness indie labels who dream up proudly original clothes, and don’t compromise on their vision. Three labels and shows that best expressed that drive are 3. Paradis, Auralee and Egonlab.

All about how winter helps to finally calm us all down in the latest collection from 3. Paradis that was staged on a catwalk of fake snow, with wind howling on the soundtrack.

Like the background sounds, all of the furs were artificial, and beguilingly finished with wax and silicon; making the models look damp, like they had barely escaped a snowstorm in Quebec, where 3. Paradis hails from.

Used on great coats, boxy puffers, sweatshirts and giant imperial capes, the mood was funky and very cool.

Another great styling trick was video-cassette cases as man bags. On their covers, posters of Bruce Lee movies, like the films which founder and creative director Emeric Tchatchoua grew up watching in Montreal. Bruce even appeared on a great surgeon’s smock, though made out of fake Yeti fur.

Emeric likes to cut a big pair of jeans, the better to display five belted waistbands, from tummy almost to knee. Noble work gear, like a crystal-studded postman’s jacket, to willful self-indulgence – a series of puffers made. Out of faux pillows, just like the invitation to this show.

“I wanted the sense that snow creates a moment of quiet. Away from a phone. And that pillows provided comfort, like the fashion,” explained the towering designer.

One of fashion’s most charming inventors, Emeric Tchatchoua is also one of the most novel.

One brand addressing social and political issues is Egonlab, whose extreme yet skillful tailoring, unexpected fabrics and sexy aesthetic felt like a liberating moment in fashion on a wretchedly wet Wednesday in Paris.

The look is sexy, arty and tough, and expresses a desire never to be afraid to be different. The design duo of Florentin Glémarec and Kevin Nompeix cut with great gusto – like a remarkable pair of pants that extended on one side into a wide two-meter-long scarf that wrapped and draped around the body.

They sent out the meanest coats, wrapped high at the neck that are both subversive yet sophisticated. Add in tunics with mega grommets and endless leather lariats; brilliantly cut loon trousers; overlong denim jeans with ankle straps and rock legend Yeti faux-fur coats and this collection started the party right.

“We were thinking about how it’s important to respect minorities and people who are different from the mainstream,” said Glémarec. While Nompeix added: “Our clothes can look wet or as if something is churning. A bit like in today’s world where extreme politicians try to create division.”

Staged in semi darkness inside the Institute de Monde Arabe with rain falling cats and dogs outside, and traffic looking like a scene from “Bladerunner,” this Egonlab show was a powerful stylistic and social statement.

It would have been easy to believe this collection was designed by a Frenchman, so much did it reek of Gallic cool and St. Germain nonchalance.

Instead, Auralee is designed by Korean-born Ryota Iwai, who one suspects was born in the Marais in another life. The neighborhood where one could happily wear his opening look – a classy gabardine greatcoat and matching pants worn with a Perfecto-style leather jacket. Or the perfect sweatshirt/puffer in dusty pink suede an or an oversized David Byrne cardigan worn with Japanese denim oversized jeans.

In a co-ed show, he also sent out cocoon coats that cried out to be worn by Simone de Beauvoir, or high biker jackets and mannish bands ideal for Juliette Greco.

Presented in a stark white space opposite Printemps department store, this was a Seoul to Seine statement.