Paris Fashion Week: A trial by fire for IFM students and Dadaist tailoring at Valette Studio

On the opening day of Paris Men’s Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027, students from the Institut Français de la Mode and designer Pierre-François Valette had to brave the heatwave to win over their respective audiences.

IFM shines thanks to its students

As is the case every season, the Institut Français de la Mode and its students kicked off the event. On Tuesday at around 3 p.m., packed rows of spectators discovered the end-of-year collections of the 27 aspiring designers. The show featured the designs of Noémie Landragin (Boredom Wishes), highlighted by a taupe-coloured coat open at the back and wrapped around the legs, followed by those of Alisa Danish (Shape Follows Movement), with outdoor-inspired caps, lightweight synthetic scarves, and pastel-coloured leggings with holes, and Samuel Ferrand (Quisqueya), featuring blue or pink madras shorts, a tattered harlequin jacket, and a topographic-knit sweater.

Next up is Elona Clement (The Softening of Authority) with her giant padlock bags, her suit jackets and wool tops with shoulder pads resembling growths (a recurring theme throughout the show), and her geometric dress with square edges. Yaouen Chausseblanche’s (Arouezioù) collection then takes centre stage with jackets and dresses made of knitwear and embroidered fabrics, a centurion’s cape of the same material, and a dress piled high with Breton-style hats and off-white ruffles.

Arthur Vieillard, with “Super fragilis homo,” presents a series of looks evoking scarlet servants through synthetic jumpsuits clinging to the body and head- placed right over a cap, sometimes red on a monochromatic outfit, sometimes electric blue on a tracksuit and mesh top of the same colour. Viola Neuls Humphreys (Imposed Geometry), meanwhile, presents tweed dresses cut like sleeveless suits, with exaggerated shoulders and backs, as well as a knitted cape featuring elastic bands running along the arms and attached to the fingers, like tendons. 

Corentin Glorian (Sleep Chic) brings a smile with his silk pillows, baggy pants, and quilted dress, while Elizaveta Pashina (Where the Body Ends) presents pleated dresses and pants alongside a suit with sculpted forearms. From gloves, loose socks, boots, and tight jackets, the military-inspired men’s outfits by Yongqi Liao and his collection “Fissure, 27.956°N, 115.156°” are covered in textured prints. Saulé Milonaité’s (Bread-à-porter) crescent-shaped shorts and her repurposed tablecloths and aprons contrast with the strange pieces by Ella Maillard de Thuin (Corpus coercitum)- ranging from a vein-like backpack to a round, sleeveless, hooded yellow coat that encases the arms like a straitjacket- all complemented by masks made of plaster-like bandages.

Jessica Lin (Journal de Si-lai) restores the splendour of Margaret Thatcher’s voluminous hairstyle, in blonde or chestnut, wearing pink three-quarter-length overalls or draped in a silky pink scarf paired with cleaning gloves of the same material and an oversized cyan work jacket tied at the chest and covered in paint. The aspiring designer also presents outfits crafted from fabrics with blue, green, or white patterns, some of which are cut into fine fringes. 

The 23rd student to present, Lauriane Lothin showcases her “Black-ish” collection, embodied in layers of shirts, belts, patterns, and textures, featuring a sleeveless top with horizontal yellow and red stripes and a wide cream-colored crossover collar, wide, flowing light blue pants, and a shirt with pink, white, and purple checks and stripes featuring stacked fabric panels. Yiyi Zhu (Fake yet Flawless) also plays with layering by pairing a duck-blue and trout-pink oilcloth overskirt with a semi-transparent trout-pink pencil skirt, and innovates with 3D-printed pink plastic kepis. Adony Bigueur (Entre-deux) closes the show with a series of masked silhouettes clad in a heavy pirate jacket that looks as if it were overgrown with coral, a loose raincoat in a muted pink, and a tilted cap like the one worn by Gavroche; or a pink-and-white “non-corset” over a skirt made of beige rods.

Valette Studio presents “Dandys Dada”

For its part, Valette Studio took over the square courtyard of the Hôtel de Jaucourt in Paris’s third arrondissement, where its models braved the sweltering heat. In this open-air, minimalist setting, the models moved among the guests, forming a circle that allowed each silhouette to be viewed from every angle.

For his Spring/Summer 2027 collection, Pierre-François Valette, founder and creative director, continues his exploration of tailored clothing, the house’s signature area of expression. Featuring 24 silhouettes, the collection is built around a colour palette dominated by black, white, off-white, and beige- hues that highlight the precision of the construction. This apparent simplicity is, however, disrupted by touches of intense purple and earthy ochre, as well as by two exclusive prints- a zebra pattern and a spotted design- that break the balance of the collection.

The tailored core collection stands out once again this season thanks to meticulous attention to construction details. Horsehair panels contribute to the garments’ structure, while the shoulders- sometimes covered in leather—accentuate the architectural lines of the silhouettes. Stiffened jackets, deconstructed and reassembled elements, and systems that allow for different ways of wearing the pieces demonstrate an in-depth technical exploration of garment modularity.

Following the fashion show, Pierre-François Valette explained that he drew his inspiration from two worlds that have long fuelled his work: Constructivism and the Dada movement.

“The tailored suit has truly been the DNA of Valette Studio from the very beginning. This season, I wanted to work on the lines, adopting a very Constructivist approach, while also incorporating the Dada spirit and its form of deconstruction. I translated this into the garments by introducing a great deal of fluidity. Ideas evolve alongside craftsmanship. So we brought on new talent capable of working with this fluidity, which allowed us to create jackets cut on the bias to achieve this look. It’s an idea I’ve had for a long time. I’ve always believed that when you have an idea, you have to be able to execute it properly. If that’s not possible, I’d rather wait. This season, we’ve finally brought together the necessary expertise to bring it to life.”