The Row, Berluti, Simon Burstein and Reebok

Wednesday was a day of eclectic presentations, highlighting Paris menswear’s immense range: an impressive The Row; a literary Berluti; welcome return by Simon Burstein with Leathersmith; a newly energized Reebok. 
 

The Row

In an era of quiet luxury, The Row does fashion unobtrusive menswear with grace.

The New York brand presented its latest men’s fashion inside its French headquarters, a beautiful cut stone mansion on rue Capucines, around the corner from the Ritz.
 
Like The Row’s women’s wear, the menswear concentrates on wrapped up volumes and mysterious shapes. From the theatrically swirled khaki trench-coats with huge shawl collars to the funnel-neck A-line leather jerkins with overlong sleeves.
 
Founders Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen remain equal opportunity designers. Both guys and girls get to wear impeccable yet unexpected fabrics – cottons so finely brushed they could be nylon; loose weave cashmere that practically floated.
 
Protective, poised, unpretentious and throughly at home in a French hôtel particulier.
 

 Berluti: Classic with not much of a twist

All about the icons at Berluti, where the emphasis was on classic items like its famed no seam Alessandro gent’s shoe, or its signature wingtip sneaker. The news being a fresh pick of patinas – like Castleton green and bright marmalade.
 
Plus, if you are looking for the perfect two pocket windcheater, then Berluti’s burnished rawhide versions in spicy amber or steely anthracite are pretty hard to beat. As was the collared baseball jacket in tinged oatmeal leather.
 
Other items to impress were the big velvet tote made in Scritto, the brand’s signature handwritten print. And new porridge-hue cardigans made in woven hemp.
 
Presented very classily inside a beautiful mansion on Parc Monceau, the Fondation of famed publishers Simone and Cino Del Duca. Stands of clothes and accessories positioned before an excellent selection of objets d’art – an acrobat statue by Philippe Hiquily or a striking Three Graces sculpture by Jean Touret – lent by Yves Gastou, Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite gallery.
 
And in a neat touch, guests left with a gift of a work of literature – in our case Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
 
That said, it is now almost five years since Berluti has been without a proper creative director, and the lack of a true fashion point of view is by now troublingly apparent.
 

Simon Burstein

Always good to witness the latest ideas of a true pro like Simon Burstein, who presented his latest Leathersmith collection in his Saint German boutique The Place London on rue d’Odéon.
 
A London-born fan of Paris, Burstein found inspiration from a series of cut-out cartoons, which he acquired at Vanves, the Paris antique market.
 
Images of youth dancing, vogueing or shooting catapults – the latter seen on a very fine cotton sweater shirt. Also admirable were dégradé orange windowpane check orange cardigans; seersucker style gents shirts and a powder blue Leathersmith script sweater. 
 
The key to the brand is its excellent leather goods, from bright wallets and credit card holders to diaries in snakeskin and buffeted leather, some finished with the images of Vanves youth.
 
“Who doesn’t love a technical miracle,” marveled Burstein, the former CEO of Sonia Rykiel, and a luxury expert, proudly displaying the leather diary.
 

Reebok LTD

One brand gaining momentum is Reebok, which presented its third collection since Milan-based New Guards acquired its European license last year.
 
The athletic marque – born in Manchester in 1895 – now likes to be called Reebok LTD – meaning Learn. Test. Design. This season it displayed three collaborations and its new Premier line in an art gallery in the Marais, most notably collabs’ with Botter and Boris Bidjan Saberi.
 
Led by Botter’s deliberately soiled sneakers with turned up toes, and great nylon sports ponchos that married Reebok’s Vector emblem with Botter’s three-pike Antwerp crest.
 
While Boris introduced his new cool take on track shoes – practical but kicky. 
 
Under its previous owner, German-owned adidas sadly reduced Reebok to the status of a cheaper lifestyle brand. One could buy Reeboks in Wal Mart.
 
Now Reebok’s new owner Authentic Brands and New Guards have other ideas. Notably in its white molecular looking take on the legendary air pump Reebok sneaker, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.
 
There would appear to be plenty of upside growth potential in Reebok, which does not even have one store in Europe. And creates the jerseys for just one football team. Though it is the most beautiful squad in Brazil. Botafogo, the Rio de Janeiro team whose most famous player was Garrincha, The Little Bird, known as the greatest dribbler in the history of soccer. 
 
One senses that Reebk LTD is now about to embark on one of Garrincha’s mazy runs to glory.