But for a designer who likes to live dangerously, this more saleable collection— though a departure from last season — felt at times like he was playing-it-safe.
HERMES
The fashion crowd got their summer holidays early — flown first class across a vibrant mix of Polynesian prints and color-rich baroque foulard motifs.
Several of the models carried hang luggage. The mascot of the house, after all, is an airborne messenger.
The looks stopped off at every fabric under the sun: in full grain leather woven in silk, washed silk twill, plunged lambskin, satin piping and lovely indigo denim linen.
Colors too, were diverse in cappuccino, terracotta, sulphur, emerald, cobalt and —the palette's most beautiful — celadon.
The flight this season stopped off at the Netherlands and Germany— with tinges of the geometry and graphics of 1930s.
"I'm a modernist at heart," Lemaire said following the show, hosted next to Paris' Tuileries gardens.
This idea was worked into the collection's best looks with a feel of famed Dutch painter Piet Mondrian — who used geometric shapes and blocks of colors that could be seen in several of the final looks.
Printed geometric floaty silk blouses and slightly jarring assorted pants made bold statements.
They also featured the slight play on masculine styles that Lemaire likes to toy with periodically: A cotton wool cravate appeared on most of the looks as a man's tie, tucked into a hoop.
The result was pure luxury, air delivered as only Hermes can.
KENZO
Kenzo headed back to the Southeast Asian jungle Sunday in a vibrant, fun collection that picked up their last menswear theme: A rainforest trek.
After just one year at the helm, the hard work of designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim has paid off: They've managed to re-stamp the brand with a cool, populist edge.
But they're serious about their work in other ways too: Fashion insiders were allowed to live the catwalk theme — literally — by having to trek to the far-flung venue, the Maison de Judo, on the Paris city limits.
In bold — sometimes purposefully garish — orange vermilions and greens, the collection threw up some great wide pants and boxy-shaped jackets as well as a lot of safari-style street wear.
Though some of the jungle printed ensembles looked overly busy — a beautiful camouflage print made up for it with images of flowers that looked like leopard.
But there was art in the detail too, with the designers showing a flair for tailoring in great utilitarian features.
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Thomas Adamson can be followed at http:/ /Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP
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