Paris Fashion Week: Roland Mouret Mr. leads with the shoulder

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Roland Mouret’s menswear collection (called Roland Mouret Mr.) made its Paris runway debut during fashion week, and it was as strong as the shoulder that was the focus of his safari-flavored journey.

In the show notes accompanying the runway presentation, Mouret explained his emphasis on the shoulder: ‘Everything for me comes from the shoulders,’ he wrote, ‘as opposed to women’s wear, which for me, comes from the waist.’

The result was an upscale traveler’s wardrobe full of belted twill safari jackets, canvas parkas and bombers all in adventurer-appropriate muted khakis, browns and the occasional bright yellow, balanced by trousers with generously cut legs that nipped in so severely at the waist, some of the deep pleats curved like parentheses.

It was the simple, unfussy things that were the best parts of Mouret’s inaugural men’s runway outing -- which is to say just about everything. Some of the standouts were a linen mélange double-breasted jacket, a mint green cashmere cardigan paired with a V-neck cashmere top, and the pair of electric blue basket weave trousers that closed the show.

It was as elegant and balanced a collection as there was to be found on the European men’s runways for the spring and summer 2012 season, and my guess is we’ll see a lot more from Mr. in the future.

-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Paris

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