Long, lean layers at Kris Van Assche
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PARIS—Belgian designer Kris Van Assche layered looks borrowed from Africa, Afghanistan and India to create a long, lean menswear silhouette at a Paris show Friday.
Van Assche said he was inspired for his spring-summer 2010 collection by African men in New York who continue to wear traditional robes over and under urban streetwear.
"It's all about mixity," said Van Assche, who also designs for luxury label Dior Homme. "I've been traveling to Morocco, I've been traveling to Peru and wherever and the things that I really enjoy -- and even enjoy in New York, walking in the streets -- is when you have these layers that look like you just did it thoughtlessly, with no reflection."
Sticking mostly to a minimalist palette of blacks, grays and creams, Van Assche layered sleeveless vests over long tank tops in gauzy knits over calf-skimming shorts over leggings. Feather-light salwar kameezes -- worn by men throughout large swaths of Central and South Asia -- peeked out from beneath shimmering gray blazers.
Some of the models wore footgear that looked like a hybrid between gladiator sandals and a chunky basketball shoe.
The collection was called "dissonance" after "rhythms that don't really belong together but in the end give a nice result," Van Assche said. Such dissonance "creates an accident, and this accident is beautiful," he said.
