PARIS, Jan 22, (AP): The French capital’s menswear displays packed a serious punch Thursday, as heavyweight French designer Jean Paul Gaultier delivered his take on boxing garb — and slouchy longjohns established themselves as the discriminating man’s legwear of choice for the fall-winter 2010-2011 season.
Japanese label Issey Miyake, one of the first shows on day one of Paris’ four-day-long menswear displays, gave the sleep deprived crowd of fashion insiders a much-needed caffeine fix with an expresso-soaked show, while French luxury giant Louis Vuitton looked to turn-of-the-century Vienna for clean-lined elegance that melded old school luxury fabrics with functional, high-tech ones.
Belgian critical darling Dries Van Noten also patched together contrasting fabrics, attaching fine tweed sleeves to sweatshirts and pairing classic, crest-emblazoned sportscoats with longjohns — and helping give that long-neglected garment its day in the sun.
Long underwear also to center stage, or rather ring, at Gaultier and were worn with dressy 3/4-length coats at Vuitton.
Off to a caffeine-spiked start, Paris’ menswear displays move into day two on Friday, with shows by French labels Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy and the perennially theatrical display at Dior designer John Galliano’s signature label.

Jean Paul Gaultier
It was among the punchiest display in years for France’s one-time enfant terrible, who swapped the runway for a boxing ring and sent out models who were remarkably dapper despite looking like they’d been on the receiving end of Mike Tyson’s fist.
Wearing silk robe trenches, leather muscle tank tops, slinky leggings and towels in guise of scarves, they dripped blood from jagged cuts across their brows and had violet bruises that bloomed across their noses and eye sockets.
Gaultier — who gave the world Madonna’s conical bra — continued to borrow from ladies’ closets, sending out feminine pieces like skirts and sheer sparkly shirts.
Rigor and restrained luxury were the names of the game at Vuitton, as menswear designer Paul Helbers looked to Austria for a collection of razor-cut layered looks with equestrian touches.
“I was inspired by Vienna and the whole atmosphere of the city in the 1920s and also the Vienna of today, the strictness of it, the kind of traditional-meets-technical aspect of it,” Helbers told The AP in a backstage interview.
Microfiber paneling around the midriff lent a cutting-edge feel to proper cashmere jackets. Double-breasted tweed coats were paired with slim nylon trousers that tucked into odd, high-rise clogs or riding boots — which the collection notes described as an ode to the Austrian capital’s celebrated Spanish riding school.

Dries Van Noten
Van Noten deftly combined far-flung fabrics for a hybrid look that managed to be chic, despite being equal parts naughty English schoolboy and couch potato.
Van Noten — an affable Belgian whose eye for quirky color combinations and penchant for madcap pairings of bold prints has made him a critical darling — attached mismatched fabrics onto slouchy sweats and paired longjohns with double-breasted sportscoats.
Many of the jackets and tie-waisted trenches looked as if they’d been the victims of a schoolboy’s prank: Their sleeves had their sleeves hacked off to reveal shoulderpads beneath.

Issey Miyake
Miyake creative director Dai Fujiwara looked to Japan’s coffee shops, drawing inspiration from their trademark gingham tablecloths, the baristas’ casual chic and even the fluid dynamics of cream mingling with a piping hot cup of joe.
“After the crisis, I thought people needed a rest, a coffee break,” Fujiwara told The AP in a pre-show interview. Fujiwara, who begins his weekdays with a cup of English Breakfast tea, said he sees coffee as a languorous, weekend pleasure.
“You go down to the coffee shop in comfy clothes, with a newspaper,” he said. One of the models, wearing a slouchy, bath-robe-inspired sweater with a rolled-up newspaper peeking out of the pocket, looked like Fujiwara’s definition of a lazy Sunday morning.
Another channeled the barista’s just-rolled-out-of-bed chic, wearing a neat black apron over wide cut trousers and a chunky grandpa sweater.
The display, among Paris’ first, was held in the label’s central Paris showroom — which had been strewn with burlap bags of beans and a specially installed coffee bar. Bleary-eyed fashion editors and ragged stylist ponied up to the bar for much-needed shots of espresso that got menswear shows off to a punchy, caffeinated start.