Alexis Mabille Menswear S/S12

We might be used to seeing full frontal nudity in every fashion magazine – but when Alexis Mabille’s models opened the show by stripping down to their undies, the crowd went crimson-cheeked. This collection was sponsored by men’s lingerie brand Hom, which famously introduced male thongs into a high street market, and led the young French designer to question the boundaries between inner and outer wear, and to decline a line of robes, underwear in tune with this season’s style. The rest of the collection appropriated, Alexis-style, the mandatory Biarritz look present on catwalks worldwide: blues and whites, cropped cargo pants, sportswear mixed with dinner jackets, and even leopard skin handbags. Dazed Digital chatted to him after the show about boys, boys, boys, looking for a good time.

Dazed Digital: Why was designing a line of underwear something appealing to you?
Alexis Mabille: It is something I’m personally crazy about, and have always put into my collections. This also allowed me to offer affordable pieces – t-shirts, pyjamas, underwear, and therefore to appeal to a younger crowd.

DD: The boys are rather muscular, unlike the contemporary androgynous trend – are masculine beauty ideals changing?
AM: We wanted pretty boys, with pretty bodies, in pretty underwear. But they also had to be healthy, and natural.

DD: How does this reflect onto the clothes?
AM: There is a definite lightness, a beachy, summer feel expressed through blues and white— which is recurrent in my designs; there is also a mix of navy with lighter tones, to create something both chic and sportswear.

DD: Who is the Mabille boy, what does he like, what does he do?
AM: He’s like me! It’s rather selfish, I know. He is confident – which is why some things don’t seem like a natural match, like mixing sportswear and suits, and to let things go a little wild. That’s what fashion is about: you like clothes, you acquire pieces from different places, and every morning you compose a new look depending on your mood.