Jean Touitou held this latest A.P.C. show in one of his stores and used his staff as models. First thought: He has attractive employees. Second thought: Way to save on production costs. Third thought: Guys will buy these clothes. This review could end right now, haiku-style, but there’s some benefit in knowing a bit more. The collection, for instance, was meant to be ‘80s/‘90s nostalgic for the non-millennial crowd. For those under 30, and in the context of today’s trends, the idea of wearing short-sleeved shirts over long, or baggier jeans might carry new, unfashionable cachet.
When asked to unpack this direction, Touitou remained respectful. “I refuse to enter that contest of who’s going to have the brightest idea in the most crazy place,” he said, noting that these days, there’s little use in even trying. “You cannot make a revolution anymore; you just need to make things that sell so the world doesn’t collapse.”
Still, for things to sell, they need to be essential, desirable, or both—and to the extent that you identify with a certain revisionist preppy style, this collection delivered all of the above. Luc’s windowpane jacket, Oskar’s tailored hickory stripe workwear, Linh’s school bus yellow pullover, Louis’s leather weekend jacket, and Corentin’s total look in dark chambray gave thoughtful consideration to day-in, day-out dressing. But as these throwback stylings whizzed around the boutique, other pieces were pitched as contemporary—namely an elongated windbreaker worn with bare legs and designer Louis W.’s capsule of blousons spliced with bands of South American patterning.
Collaborations with graphic designer Pierre-Marie Agin and British jewelry designer Andrew Bunney yielded a nerdy jacquard resembling a obsolete video game background, and the A.P.C. logo button transposed as a sterling silver ring. These had a collectible aspect, though not nearly as much as the brand’s Butler jeans hand-painted by Touitou himself. He’s already exercised his inner Pollock with 100 pairs. Final thought: He could charge a lot for these.
