Iconic clubs feted in celebrity-filled Paris menswear shows


              Models wear creations for Kenzo's Men's Spring/Summer 2017 fashion collection presented Saturday, June 25, 2016 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)
Models wear creations for Kenzo's Men's Spring/Summer 2017 fashion collection presented Saturday, June 25, 2016 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

PARIS (AP) - Actor Robert Pattinson took center stage at Dior Homme's menswear show in Paris that celebrated the styles of Britain's iconic retro club, The Haçienda - against a theatrical fairground backdrop that had celebrity attendees gawping. Kenzo, too, paid homage to legendary retro clubs in a show dedicated to the flamboyant styles once worn at New York music venues.

Here are some of the highlights of the spring-summer 2017 collections.

THE RISE OF ROBERT PATTINSON

Pattinson, who has successfully moved in a more mature direction since starring in the hit "Twilight" franchise that grossed over $3 billion worldwide, is now a veritable asset in the serious, high-fashion industry.

The film star, who rocked a black Dior Homme suit with a funky asymmetrical cross motif to myriad camera flashes, was chosen as the face of the Dior Homme fall-winter season this year, after being featured as the face of the house's fragrance since 2012.

His former co-star Kristen Stewart, meanwhile, has been treading a similar path in both cinema and fashion, and features as a face of Dior's rival house Chanel.

Rap star A$AP Rocky was spotted on the front row, alongside actor Michael B. Jordan who also wore a black Dior Homme suit that matched Pattinson's look. It made for a dark contrast to the luminescence of the gargantuan multicolored structure.

DIOR HOMME

Designer Kriss Van Assche explored the daring-styles of the attendees of the iconic Manchester club Haçienda, known in '80s Britain for its role in the rise of rave and acid house music.

The show's decor, myriad swirling black metal bars speckled with lightbulbs, added a surreal, almost eerie, air to the collection - channeling the kinesis of an imagined fairground, and perhaps even the atrium lights of the Haçienda club itself.

It made for a fresh and impressive spring collection.

"I am interested in a synthesis of generations and filtering subcultures through my own lens to tell a new story," Van Assche explained.

Van Assche pushed the envelope on his obligatory plays on the suit, Dior Homme's forte and signature that's sometimes a designer's creative cage.

Suits rebelliously broke free from their traditional shapes - a way to "warp perceptions of formality," according to the program notes.

Kinky-looking harnesses, masses of dangling red rope, eyelets, naked arms and staples all boldly subverted the two-piece suit.

They were delivered mainly in black with contrasting flashes of burnt umber, slate, white and olive stone.

The welcome mold-breaking was also felt in the fusing of bright sportswear marking on dapper silhouettes.

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KENZO'S TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE SHOW

Kenzo's workaholic designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon presented two collections for the price of one: both the menswear and the women's "resort" collection.

Merging collections is becoming increasingly popular among houses, some of whom have expressed concern at the frenetic pace of the modern fashion industry.

Cruise or resort collections - mid-season shows - were originally conceived to target wealthy women who travel on cruise ships in winter.

Nowadays, they're used as a lucrative means of re-stimulating fashions in the mid-season lull.

Givenchy is another example of the trend. The storied house is now presenting its menswear and haute couture collections together, after having stopped making couture presentations altogether for several seasons.

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KENZO

Retro nightlife was also the inspiration for Kenzo's spring show, which was probably the most fun guests have had so far in Fashion Week.

The designers stepped back in time to '70s and '80s club life to celebrate the myriad New York venues that created legends, such as Manhattan's Sound Factory.

Attendees were tapping their feet contagiously to many of the tracks such as Musique's 1978 hit "Keep on Jumpin'."

The outlandishly colorful show merged the soundtrack and clothes seamlessly.

Sporty cropped high-waisted shorts mixed with jackets and bomber jackets - in intentionally-clashing hues of blueberry and neon yellow. The designs were inspired by the styules often worn by artists on the covers of vinyl records from the era.

Tectonic patterning evoked the busy, and sometimes brash, looks of the retro era. It was of course delivered with more than a hint of irony from Lim and Leon - with fun plays in proportion on oversize shirts and dresses.

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Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

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