Paris Fashion Week Fall 2010 for Men

This week all the best fashion houses in Paris will be showing their Menswear collections. The Milan shows were the previous week, which included shows from Prada, Gucci, and Versace. The big show today in Paris is Louis Vuittion. Marc Jacobs, the head designer of the label, drew inspiration from Vienna's Wiener Werkstatte movement, according to WWD.com.

This brings up two questions: What is this movement and does the collection show this inspiration?

According to artsmia.org Wiener Werskatte is German for Vienna Workshop. This was a period when craftsmen worked together to make fashionable household goods. The key phrases about this period are " Simplified shapes, geometric patterns, and minimal decoration" which all characterized the products. This is what we have to look for in Jacobs' collection.

Indeed there is a minimalist air to the collection. It consists of pieces that are almost exclusively of browns and blacks. The shape of the coats aren't extravagant, but simple. And there are hints of geometric patterns throughout the clothes.

This collection also reflects the times that we are living in. People are turning to the practical and that's most certainly what this collection is. One could also make the claim that the color scheme is a statement on these troubled economic times when it is hard for major luxury brands, like LV, to stay afloat.

Pictures from WWD.com