Fashion and sports, sports and fashion…. The topic du jour carried over from Vogue World: Paris to the first days of the fall 2024 couture season where the work of the ateliers was dazzling and used to different effects. Team Thom Browne deserves a medal for endurance as they spent 11,000 hours on a single embellished jacket.

 This menswear season was bigger than usual thanks to a particular confluence of events. Vogue World: Paris closed out the week of shows, immediately followed by the couture shows, which means that the City of Light was teeming with stylish guests.

Elsewhere, silky necklaces spoke to a collective longing for softness and comfort in the face of the world’s harsh realities, while Calder-esque earrings and sculptural necklaces and brooches offered an emotive, expressive alternative to the quiet luxury trend that’s now feeling played out. A touch of chic to balance the new boho.

The CPHFW market is a contemporary (versus luxury) one, and jeans are a key staple. Marimekko, currently celebrating the 60th anniversary of its famous Unikko poppy print, put it on denim, and Vain, which is also from Finland, showed a pair of double chap-like jeans cut in its signature heart motif. At Stamm, jeans in XXL proportions took on sculptural aspects. Elsewhere corduroy made a comeback.

Blue is applied in two tones on the dial: vibrant sunray brushing on the main surface, and a lighter sky shade for the minute track. Framed by stainless steel and accented with red details, it is exceedingly contemporary. Which is great because the Master Control is characteristically sober, so a touch of modernity gives it a ton of stylish energy.

To kick off the celebratory function, attendees placed flowers—paint-by-number style—onto a wall, which served as a picture backdrop throughout the day. There was plenty to do and see as this year’s event featured a Black business marketplace, entertainment, family-friendly activities, and vendors serving diverse, local cuisine.

Some garments come to define an era—and such is the case with the famous red, white, and blue dress that will always be linked to the history of Alaïa, and of France itself. For Vogue World: Paris, Pieter Mulier breathed new life into this trio of colors as he kicks off Act IV, a tribute to soccer and the 1990s styled by Ib Kamara.

A shrinking violet I am not. As a black transgender woman, I believe I’ve fought for my voice and, frankly, my looks. Right now, we’re in the midst of what I affectionately refer to as a Transgender Renaissance.