“It’s a love affair, and I’m your man,” said Haider Ackermann after his first double-gender show. “You love the thing about him and her, and how they might intertwine. It’s just a borrowing.”
Helped along by Leonard Cohen, whose music has soundtracked his most moving collections, Ackermann delivered another one this morning—a meditative ode to the versatility of his creative tailoring. Ackermann made his point about the cross-gender viability of his clothes by sending out his models in pairs or threes. His girls and guys wore houndstooth trousers indistinguishable from each other. In a section of oxblood tailoring, it was the man who sported a chiffon robe under his vest; his female counterpart’s jacket was buttoned up and double-belted. Both sexes wore boxy cotton shirts with intricate laser cutting on the short sleeves, with the only difference between the two tops being the collars. And both modeled vibrant color, most notably an intoxicating chartreuse.
The unisex concept has been touted elsewhere in Paris this week—Maison Margiela, Celine. It’s an idea whose time has come, but Ackermann handled it with a subtle, convincing grace that eluded the other designers.
As usual, the seduction of this collection was its attitude: languid but charged. You can picture his longtime client Tilda Swinton devastating on the red carpet in the silk pajama top with the starburst jacquard robe spilling off her shoulder. Or his new client Timothée Chalamet in the double-breasted jacket with the intricate laser-cutting work tracing the lapels and the sexy, nipped-waist fit (those Berluti days paying off). With Swinton statuesque and glow-y in the front row, the one thing missing from this men’s and women’s show was a sighting of the Call Me by Your Name star.
