Park Ranger Vibes in Paris

Paris Fashion Week Men’s saw an insurgence of outdoors / forest inspired collections. Designers like Reese Cooper, BODE, Phipps, White Mountaineering and more channeled Boy Scout and Park Ranger vibes for their FW2020 collections.

Blue collar workwear (Carhartt, Dickies, etc.) and techwear (Engineered Garments) have been growing in popularity the past few years and this season saw an increase in the forest type inspirations.

Vintage is of course another growing industry within fashion as more and more customers attempt to seek out the sickest vintage piece that nobody else has.

Emily Bode of BODE has capitalized on this perfectly. Her business started by taking vintage quilts and fabrics and turning them into one of one custom patchwork pieces. Her business has grown and scaled up since, but this vintage look stays at the core of her business.

Her FW2020 collection of course was vintage focused but within that, there were a few pieces that screamed vintage Boy Scouts. One outfit was a two piece red suit completely covered in patches, many of which were Boy Scout patches.

Photos: Hypebeast

Here is Luka Sabbat wearing a similar jacket.

Photo: @shootingpeople

Reese Cooper is another emerging designer that channeled the outdoors for his latest collection in Paris. Cooper’s brand as a whole is particularly outdoorsy focused with hints of utility thrown in. His show in Paris was no exception. Titled, If a Tree Falls the collection was very heavy on the hiking and utility inspirations. The set itself was even made to be a forest.

Photos: Vogue Runway

Heron Preston’s show in Paris also showed inspiration from workwear community as he even collaborated with CAT. Preston’s show did for sure show aspects of the outdoors but in a more elevated, tailored manner. He used suiting and more refined materials to juxtapose the camouflage and workwear-esque garments.

Photos: Vogue Runway

In terms of real park ranger vibes, Spencer Phipps hit it on the nose. Phipps’s whole collection was focused on national parks and forests. In fact, the star of the show was the collaboration with Smokey the Bear. Smokey celebrated his 75th anniversary this year and Phipps decided it would be perfect for his sustainability focused brand.

The color palette for this collection was focused on greens, tans, and browns. Some of the accessories featured included a reusable water bottle, wicker basket, and even a wooden walking stick.

Photos: Vogue Runway

Yosuke Aizawa was another designer moved by the trails and the trees with his White Mountaineering line. Aizawa has always had a passion for the outdoors and American heritage which prompted him to launch his line, White Mountaineering. His FW2020 collection that he showed in Paris was quite on brand for him.

In terms of color palette, this show was quite similar to Phipps, all centered around earth tones and camouflages. White Mountaineering though, was more avante garde and abstract compared to Phipps. Aizawa made his collection quite fashion focused while showing inspirations from the outdoors and trails.

I definitely think the market is slowly shifting from workwear to outdoors. Although the two really go hand in hand, there is more of a push towards this hiking and technical aspect to the outdoors that I think is going to be gaining in popularity in coming seasons.