What Clothes Feel New Now?

What clothes feel fresh right now?

Not the ubiquitous black leather jackets I saw on the youth of Paris. Reliable, sure. Tough, even. But not novel. Likewise, not the blue-on-black, cashmere-on-wool standard modeled by journalists and LVMH executives in the front row of fashion shows. And not the “Marty Supreme” jackets I kept seeing in passing — another fad shoved at us via Instagram until it became stale before the movie had even left theaters here.

Here’s what does: color and uplift. The long shadow of quiet luxury is receding. Something brighter, more buoyant is moving in. This explains why Michael Rider’s Celine has landed so well. I passed multiple people in Paris wearing his gossamer boxing sneakers.

And it’s also why this new phase of Loewe, led by the Americans Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, felt so welcome on a Friday morning, as gray skies gave way to sun over the city. The collection was all color and cunning. A yellow raincoat with rotund sleeves, like gummy rigatoni; inflatable jackets like half-scaled life preservers in carrot orange and marigold; and scuba-type sneakers in Crayola tones.

I seized on the dresses in crosshatched plaids and coats with picnic-plaid linings. Those classic checks made me think of the democratic sportswear that flowed out of Seventh Avenue in the ’50s and ’60s, from designers like Claire McCardell. They were, as I saw it, a modest nod to the American background of McCollough and Hernandez.

It has been a peculiar subplot of the season that even as the United States wages a war in Iran that most European nations haven’t supported, some of the best-received labels have been American, or at least led by Americans. Though the country is seen as an aggressor by much of the world, a vision of America remains aspirational. .

It certainly felt that way at a packed Polo Ralph Lauren presentation on Thursday afternoon. A crowd, jabbering away in a mix of French and English, took in a collection heavy on Americana building blocks, especially “Sundance Kid”-style Western wear. Here’s what stood out: a crunchy tan knit rugby with a naïve flower motif; a black shearling jacket with a curious, kimono-like closure and a suede shirtdress that suggested hoedown formal.

I posted a photo of a pair of Polo shoes on my Instagram — supple, low to the ground, sealed with a teeny tie across the vamp. Those lithe shoes received, by far, the most replies of anything I posted this week.

Yet, for me, the true highlight was a forest green flannel shirt aping a battered Kmart one that Ralph Lauren famously wore on “CBS Sunday Morning.” And that’s really what defines this period of Polo, what makes the “Ralph Lauren renaissance” a term that people toss around: It’s something familiar, scrubbed up to feel fresh again.

Other things worth knowing about:

Loewe got the guest of the week: Sissy Spacek! It’s not easy to surprise the jaded fashion crowd, but a cameo from Carrie did it.
Was Alysa Liu the hair inspiration at Rick Owens? A model flaunted hair with alternating black and goldish stripes similar to the signature mop of the gold medal-winning Olympian. It was, Owens said backstage, a mere coincidence.
Why does Off-White even show anymore? It’s cruel to say, but this is the question I kept hearing from people after the label’s noble effort on Thursday. Off-White was sold off after the death of the founder Virgil Abloh, and it’s not nearly as visible on the streets as when he was alive. It’s chasing a cool it just can’t find again.

One last Polo tidbit. There’s a red version of an elemental $298 Polo zip-up women’s windbreaker that, apparently, is available only in France. We heard stories of Americans racing to buy it at the Paris store before heading back home. I can’t recall the last time I heard a story like that about a Ralph Lauren item.

Carhartt’s reign continues. An obvious fact worth restating: Fashion is still in thrall to Carhartt straight-leg under-$100 cotton pants. All week, I kept seeing that square C-logo on people’s back pockets. If workwear is a fad, it sure has been a long one at this point.

“It irked to me to see male designers put these women out on runways in these parade floats, the most elaborate things. And then, at the end, come out in jeans and a T-shirt.”

— Rick Owens, speaking backstage after his show, addressing, unprompted, a topic that I wrote about just this week.

The Indelible Fit of the Day

Here’s a funny inverse of the typical runway-to-red-carpet pipeline: In January, Timothée Chalamet wore a pinstriped Givenchy suit to the Critics Choice Awards. It echoed the ’50s suits of “Marty Supreme” — double-breasted with meaty lapels and a jacket that’s a bit longer. On Friday, the Givenchy designer Sarah Burton sent nearly the same ensemble down the runway.