The dust is settling on the AW24 men’s and couture seasons, with the fashion set arriving home to unpack and get through their washing in the two short weeks before the womenswear circus begins. Before that kicks off in NY next week, though, we’ve recapped everything you need to see from the men’s shows. Read on for the lowdown, and don’t forget to hit follow on Dazed Fashion for real-time updates and more.

MARTINE ROSE’S SURPRISE PARIS PARTY

Martine Rose’s sporadic approach to showing her collections sees her landing on the fashion calendar as and when she feels like it, so it’s always an exciting proposition to find out she’s got a spot on the schedule (and a slightly more boring one when she’s not). This season, though, there was zero warning that she’d be uprooting from London and making an appearance in Paris for the first time, with ‘a screening’ of a new film the only thing flagged to be happening.

To be fair, there was a screening, with Rose taking over the crowded upstairs of a seedy little balloon-strewn Pigalle club to give a new film its big premiere, but what wasn’t anticipated was that said film would burst out of the projector and into real life, as her rag-tag community of models tramped out from backstage as part of a night that was part-runway impromptu show, part-Vogue ball, and part-raucous family party. The clothes themselves, meanwhile, were business as usual, with the beloved British designer’s offbeat tailoring and twisted trackies rubbing up against Rose-branded football shirts, battered moto leather, and various uniforms and workwear: the male-presenting model in a skimpy corset that barely covered his nips, baggy workers trousers bearing reflective strips and a brilliantly ratty little faux fur coat was a particular highlight.

GOING THROUGH THE KEYHOLE WITH RICK OWENS

Rick Owens was one of the few designers to respond to the current state of the world, and particularly, seemingly, to the current war happening in Palestine, in a direct way, as he moved his AW24 show from his usual space at the Palais De Tokyo into his Paris home, and the place where his eponymous brand found its feet over 25 years ago. What followed was truly special, as guests filed in from the snow to cups of steaming coffee and the opportunity to have a snoop around the designer’s uber-minimalist space – all white walls, parquet floors, and esoteric, one-off furniture pieces.

The show itself felt just as magic as the out-of-the-ordinary moment: as the sun streamed in through the gleaming sash windows and the ice began to thaw, Owens sent one of his most inspiring collections to date out through the space, with his pumped-up coats, angular, imposing tailoring, and spidery knits offset by big inflated boots created in collaboration with artist Straytukay. Always pretty mind-blowing as it is, in this setting Owens’ clothes felt even more like art than usual.

LOUIS GABRIEL NOUCHI’S FIRST FORAY INTO WOMENSWEAR

2024 ANDAM winner Louis Gabriel Nouchi has been hellbent on making men of all shapes and sizes look smoking hot for a few years now, but this season he saw fit to branch out into womenswear, sending a BDSM-tinged collection of 80s and 90s-inspired power suiting, cinched tranches, and his signature sexy underwear out onto the runway for AW24.

All set to a skewed slice of the Succession soundtrack, Nouchi’s cast pummelling the runway were joined by Drag Race icon Raja, whose silvery hair, slouchy suit and glass of champagne clutched firmly in hand sent the internet into a meme tailspin. The kicker was the closer, though, as Coco Rocha stormed through the show space in a high-shine, wipe-clean vinyl trench and sexy, severe pointed boots: a look that was a need, not a want.

THOSE WILD NEW SHOES AT COMME DES GARÇONS

Rei Kawakubo was in a reflective mood this season, turning out a collection of mostly white and muted clothes – it was, what she called, a moment of peace and purity in a world in turmoil. Where things got batshit, though, was at the model’  feet: with the revered Japanese designer debuting steadily more mad shoes across the course of the last few shoes (who could forget those double-Oxfords?), this time around the classic brogues had been chucked onto the catwalk before the leather offcuts from the sole had been removed. With chic uppers bearing clean snake and crocodile prints, they’re surely a style that will get the real heads salivating.

PRETTY LITTLE KITTIES AT GIVENCHY

It’s been a hot minute since Matthew Williams skipped out of his role as creative director at Givenchy and into the sunset, and right now, there’s only speculative whispers of who might take the top spot at the house (a certain ex-McQueen designer is top of the rumour mill, FYI). Taking on the challenge of the tough in-betweener collection, then, was Givenchy’s in-house team, who invited the fashion crowd into their atelier and loaded them up with champagne before debuting their anonymous efforts. In the team’s hands, the collection was multi-textured and refined, with spidery knitted scarves layered over slick bombers, precise suits matched with tactile sweaters, and heavyweight outerwear offset with playful flourishes, like the little fuzzy kittens that peeked out from the fabrics.

KENZO’S NEW ERA 

It wasn’t just Dazed’s fashion director who was busy this season, but our editor-in-chief put a good stint in during the menswear shows, too. Joining forces with fashion legend Nigo at Kenzo, IB Kamara stamped his signature all over the Japanese designer’s latest collection, which got its debut in a library – models carried tattered copies of books in little leather straps, because as we all know, reading is fundamental and beauty is more than skin deep.

On the line-up for the AW24 season were neat little suits with cropped cuffs and hems, slinky pencil dresses cinched with waist belts, and slouchy librarian-esque cardis layered over strappy little tops and prim blouses. It was sexier and more grown-up this season, but there were plenty of signature Nigo trademarks to get excited about, like the cute logo souvenir jackets and collegiate stamping. The library is open.

THE PERFECT NEW FASHION UNION AT BALMAIN 

Balmain arrived back on the Paris Men’s schedule this season with a bang, forgoing its recent salon and showroom forays for a blowout runway show closed by none other than Olivier Rousteing’s good pal Naomi Campbell. With Balmain never really about the ‘quiet luxury’ that’s currently dominating the catwalks, the collection came supercharged, with slick, glamorous tailoring hashed out in a bolshy, Stabilo-inflected colour palette.

Best of all, though – and yes, we may be biased – was the perfect union between Rousteing and Dazed fashion director Imruh Asha, whose distinctive fingerprints could be seen through the whole collection via its finishing flourishes – the Dutch creative behind some of the most original campaigns and shoots in recent years was brought on board to rev up the collection and bring it to life through his own unique eye.

BERET MET BOJAGI AT WOOYOUNGMI

As Seoul has emerged as a fashion capital worth keeping an eye on over the past decade, how South Korean fashion interacts with its European counterparts has become increasingly important. And what better than a Korean-based, Paris-founded label to immortalise this on the catwalk? “As a Far-Eastern urban culture in constant conversation with those of the West, the dress codes of Seoul inherently cross-pollinate South Korean and European wardrobe traditions,” read the Wooyoungmi notes, mailed out before the show.

So with this in mind, Madame Woo connected the dots between Paris and Seoul for the day, presenting a collection of modern menswear essentials with a twin city twist. Scarves printed with Parisian cityscapes lay over the shoulders of some models, while rugby shirts were embroidered with the portmanteau ‘PariSeoul’. Oversized suede jackets you might catch a uni professor in came with patches showing the Eiffel and N Seoul Towers side by side – but it was the headgear which was a particular standout. Some model’s heads came topped with Bojagi knots – the Korean art of fabric wrapping – which at points looked like Woo’s own inspired take on the French beret.

THE MACLACHLANAISSANCE CONTINUES AT UNDERCOVER

Of late, Kyle MacLachlan has been experiencing a renaissance. That’s not to say that Orson Hodge hasn’t always been king, it’s just that, recently, his social media presence has been particularly unhinged, waving around a cardboard gun and pretending to do coke on main (“Congrats to the teenage girl recently hired by Kyle MacLachlan to direct his social media presence”, read one inspired tweet). And if Undercover’s AW24 offering is anything to go by, Jun Takahashi might just be clairvoyant, because his new collection has MacLachlan all over it – quite literally.

This season, Takahashi mined Twin Peaks for reference, showing shirts, blazers, denim and coats with patches of MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper stitched into their fabric. One standout piece comes in the form of a black bomber jacket with an almost-life-sized Cooper bust in jacquard on its reverse. Elsewhere, Takahashi transfers Lynch’s sinister tale to other garments too, with images of a dead Laura Palmer and prints of spooky pines – but it’s the inclusion of MacLachlan which makes this a damn fine collection.

WINNIE EXPANDS THE HYPEBEAST’S HEADWEAR

If you head to any of the “trendy” neighbourhoods in fashion-conscious cities, you won’t be able to move for the men in faux-fur trappers. They’ve had London in a chokehold for quite a few seasons now, and been shown on the catwalk at labels as diverse as Burberry and Julien Dossena for JPG. This season however, WINNIE’s Idris Balogun is here to expand the possibilities of faux-fur headwear for those men who might be stuck in a bit of a rut.

There were mink-coloured creations, perched on top like a crown, a towering grey version that engulfed its model’s head, and a brown bear variation with tiers like a cake. The trapper was still there, but refashioned in shearling instead, and flat caps and slouchy beanies also appeared for an altogether different choice. It makes sense for Balogun to take a current trend and reappropriate it for a new kind of man: the collection was inspired by the poet and artist Ted Joans, a participant of the 1950s Beat Generation, which was all about experimentation, liberation and rejection of the status quo.

THE STYLING AT NAMESAKE WAS ON POINT

This season, the Taiwanese label founded by brothers Michael, Richard and Steve Hsieh explored the idea of growing up, as the sporting codes of the brand expanded to include more mature silhouettes. Billowing trousers came with matching sleeveless smocks, basketball shorts were printed with flower illustrations and a gentleman’s dressing gown was made from tech material you’d find at Sports Direct.

Dazed fave Jamie-Maree Shipton made particularly good calls on the styling throughout, looping beaded statement necklaces around model’s necks, and layering loose trousers under structured jorts. Similarly, the first model that walked onto the catwalk was holding a basketball jersey over his arm, in the way that a young waiter would, or maybe a maître d’. This gestural styling feels fitting for a brand like Namesake (which was founded by the Hsiehs in tribute to their father), using the physical basketball jersey as a symbol of service and support.

THE ARGYLE GLITCHWEAR AT HERMÈS

For a while now, fashion designers have been glitching out. Jonathan Anderson sent that pixelated hoodie down Loewe’s catwalk for SS23, which birthed its own capsule of bags and t-shirts. Over at Louis Vuitton, Pharrell introduced ‘Damoflage’ for SS24, a new version of LV’s Damier check rendered in pixelated camouflage. And now, Véronique Nichanian has entered the chat. Two thirds of the way through Hermès’ most recent men’s show, some Argyle knitwear appeared on the catwalk, but with a digital twist. Instead of the usual cross-hatched diamonds we’re used to seeing, some of them had been stitched with horizontal bars, like the fuzzy lines on a broken TV.

At points the lines bled out of the Argyle and into the grey space of the knit, while another iteration of the pattern came in a CMYK colour scheme. Much like Silvia Fenturini over at Fendi, Nichanian created her own “English fantasy” for the rest of the collection, combining classic suiting with herringbone tweed – but the inclusion of glitchwear proves that even this 186-year-old heritage house can’t escape the looming influence of the digital world.

ISSEY MIKAYE CUSHIONS THE BLOW

Life can be hard. Sometimes, all you want to do is put on a cosy jumper, curl up between the sofa cushions, and forget the world exists. Well, if you feel comforted by that admittedly quite sad thought, Issey Miyake has you covered. For this season’s Homme Plissé collection, Satoshi Kondo found inspiration in front of the TV, sending models down the catwalk holding a selection of scatter cushions. First, they were clasped to stomachs as some sort of squashy breastplate, protecting their holder from the outside world. Then, their spongy innards disappeared, falling to sides as makeshift clutch bags. And lastly, straps were stitched on to transform the cover into a canvas tote.

The cushions – and the rest of the collection for that matter – were decorated with the brushstrokes of French artist Ronan Bouroullec, who worked alongside the Miyake team to show that clothes can be the canvas for creative freedom. After the show, it was revealed that the cushions were actually pouches containing foldaway coats, which makes perfect sense – comfort has always been the highest priority for the Miyake man.

BROOCHES ARE FOR BOYS AT AMIRI

This season, Mike Amiri decided to stick with what you know, presenting an autumn/winter collection inspired by the city that raised him. The theme was Hollywood, and the label transformed its Parisian showspace into a vintage movie theatre, with sweeping blush curtains and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The collection that followed was a 50s-meet-90s redux, where shawl lapel tuxedos and pastel revere shirts were shown alongside skater boy beanies and Kurt Cobain cardigans.

Elsewhere, slouchy trousers nestled against important looking smoking jackets, while the new ‘AM’ monogram that hovered above the catwalk also flashed up on longline coats. Throughout, Amiri pinned an assortment of brooches to hats, jackets and blazers, from classic gemstones to snowflakes, swans and a Phoenix. The glistening amulets were very much in the 1950s style, and although brooches were considered a feminine addition by that time, Amiri makes the case that great accessories have no gender.