There’s an endearing ingenuity to Mike Amiri. His clothes are as earnest as his approach to dreaming up the stories that support them. This season, the Amiri character is enjoying a transatlantic adventure, traveling from his native California in search of a European summer. The south of France is his destination.
The story is not unfamiliar to Amiri. “I’ve been coming to Paris so much to do the shows, and our presence has really been growing here,” he said backstage. “I wanted to connect that growth to the man and his evolving aesthetic.”
The show took place at the Jardin des Plantes, with models crisscrossing the gardens on their way to a gravel runway with a bar at its center hosting influencers and celebrities. The venue lent itself to Amiri’s seasonal story. Highlights included shirts and long shorts made with woven leather in a nod to Parisian bistro chairs, tweedy pieces with floral embellishments on the shoulders (“picture him walking through a garden and the flowers from trees are sticking on his shoulders,” Amiri said), and floral pins made with leftover fabrics.
Amiri referenced two time periods: the ’50s and the ’90s, blending the tailoring proportions of the former and the ease of the latter. Most compelling were those tweeds cut into relaxed shirt-and-shorts sets, and bouclés dotted with Swarovski crystals. Leaving the lining fabric to hang off short legs as if the Amiri guy had cut his trousers was a nice touch.
There’s been a shift in menswear. Street wear has been replaced by jackets and shorts and dressed-down tailoring. But the truth is that not every man is shopping for a suit. “You have to feel comfortable in whatever you wear,” said Amiri, “Even if fashion evolves, you yourself have to be able to wear it, and not let it wear you.”
