Paris Men’s Fashion Week ended a couple of days ago, and the biggest takeaway from the fall ’18 shows was that the sneaker trend is here to stay, from Off-White’s buzzy Nike Air Jordan 1 collab to Demna Gvasalia’s Swear London platforms for Vetements. Sneakers were also at Valentino, Alexander McQueen and Balmain, and they were seen in every color (from bright white to primary colors) and silhouette (both aerodynamic and chunky) imaginable.
There were even microtrends within sneakers, like brand names or slogos (i.e. Off-White‘s “Shoelaces”) or patterns (Dior Homme’s tattoo-printed ones come to mind) on laces.
Another fall ’18 breakout was Gen-Z yellow (millennial pink, watch out), which was seen in both shoes and ready-to-wear (namely Kenzo, Dries Van Noten, Haider Ackermann). At Y-3, sneakers got the sunshine treatment when John Galliano sent out a head-to-toe yellow at Maison Margiela, which blended right in with the bright yellow runway.
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And that brings us to the next big trend: glossy, high-shine finishes. Departing Louis Vuitton designer Kim Jones lacquered his boots in a titanium glaze, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon of Kenzo cast ’90s dad loafers in burnished gold, and Haider Ackermann went for a metallic patent for Berluti’s fall offerings.
Too shiny or bright for your liking? Cozy up to this one: Thom Browne and Y/Project’s Glenn Martens brought comfort to footwear by either decorating snowboots with giant puffers (that’s at Thom Browne) or lengthening Ugg boots to hit the thigh (Y/Project).
Click through to see our gallery of the biggest fall ’18 shoe trends from Paris Men’s Fashion Week.
