Alexandre Mattiussi has long spliced his menswear shows with looks worn by women, and they tend to look good. That he would eventually get around to producing women’s garments in earnest seemed inevitable, and this morning it came to pass. Following a test capsule last year, this Ami show was a formal rollout for what the brand is calling “menswear for women,” an 80-piece, resized ready-to-wear line that will at first be available in one store in Paris.
That change marked a gear shift in the production values of this show. We were seated around a finely realized re-creation of some Parisian rooftops. Rain spattered, then faded, and as a few dim lights turned on in the garrets, a young couple climbed out onto the roof wearing what looked through the gloom to be near-identical outfits of notch-lapel black overcoats (the women’s version had no buttons; the men’s did), black pants, white roll-necks, and an Ami version of the chunky, fugly Asics-style sneaker everyone is doing this season. After a spot of gentle hand-holding and a wistful look around, they gamboled off into the dark.
Of all the 31 looks worn by men and five by women (in a bunch at the end), none looked as if it would be especially out of place on either gender. The softness in much of Mattiussi’s pieces renders the traditionally masculine codes he works in compatible either way. The collection featured what felt like many old favorites: an all-camel look built beneath a beefy double-breaster, gray flannels worn with more white sneakers and a poppy crimson sweater, a fabulous shearling. New additions included Mattiussi’s first crack at leather pants, which he managed to make look almost homely, plus a leather bomber and some jersey sweats with a sports-style brand logo. Of course, there was corduroy.
At first sight, Ami’s clothes can look simple to the point of banality. However, Mattiussi’s work since 2011 has prefaced many of menswear’s real-world changes in silhouette and wearing habits. Will this quietly influential menswear designer become a thing in womenswear? You shouldn’t bet against it.
