By Katie Dominy /asdf 28-01-2009

Saintly vs Sharp Cuts

This January saw the debut of Dutch designer Francisco van Benthum on the official Paris men’s fashion week calendar. Van Benthum’s collection has a sophisticated austerity that is perfectly on trend with the overall sober mood of the shows, bar the usual over-the-top extravagances.

The ecclesiastical elegance of priests, cardinals, bishops and choirboys inspired Van Benthum, who pared down the ritual clothing into almost abstract geometrics to create modern streamlined silhouettes. Elongated robes and the priest’s black and white collar appear in the show, as do white choirboy ruffs, pleated aprons worn over pants, long belted tunics, sharp long black coats, slinky tops and cropped wide pants worn over longer skinny pants.

The collection is divided into three sections: a strictly fashion part, a more formal classic part and luxurious eveningwear pieces. Colours are sober and restrained; blacks with white and dark blues are the dominant colours, enlivened by accents of fuchsia pink and carmine red. The fabrics range from lightweight silks and nylon to coated wools and high-quality cottons. The pieces were accessorised with an exclusive jewellery line from Rotterdam-based designer Martine Viergever. The jewellery continues the religious theme of the collection, featuring subtly designed necklaces and bracelets with church crosses hanging from them. Handmade pieces combine sterling silver and rubber bands to create a neck piece that references the priest's collar or an armband to keep the sleeves rolled up.

Francisco van Benthum studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute Arnhem and has worked for labels such as SO by Alexander van Slobbe, Puma and G-Star – before launching his own menswear label in 2003. Francisco’s label is sold in directional stores in the Netherlands and he also opened his first concept store NL=New Luxury in January 2008 in Amsterdam. The Paris show enables him to take his label to an international level.

Rotterdam-based Jeroen van Tuyl is, by contrast, an old hand in Paris – this was his seventh show in the French capital. This season Van Tuyl took over the underground nightclub Rex and his audience included Didier Grumbach, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode Masculine, plus the international media of Vogue, GQ, Women’s Wear Daily, Esquire etc.

Van Tuyl is known for taking classic fabrics and reinventing them with technological textures into new modern silhouettes; a mixture of structured geometric shapes with more fluid forms. His autumn/winter collection, entitled Artifact, is inspired by objects made or formed by the human hand and objects from the past with magical properties. Designs and accessories are cut with Van Tuyl's signature sharp angles, demonstrating the hand-worked and atelier-style elements of the garments. Key features include slanted seams, exaggerated triangular shoulders and pointed handkerchief hems appearing on jackets or peaking out under waistcoats. Cape-effects on jackets and shirts, caught with belts are also important. Rich fabrics such as blends of wool and silk or cotton and silk come in dark shades of evergreen, bordeaux red, greys and black creating a luxurious subtle shimmer.

Jeroen Van Tuyl also studied at the Fashion Institute Arnhem and started his own label in 2000. Besides points of sale in the Netherlands, Jeroen Van Tuyl is available in France, Russia and Canada.

Main Image: Francisco Van Benthum
Images 1+2: Francisco Van Benthum
Images 3-5: Jeroen Van Tuyl
Photography: Peter Stigter

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