Officine Générale Menswear Spring 2023

We were in the courtyard of the Hotel de Soubise—a big budget location—and the looks came out languidly, arranged in color stories that shifted slowly across the cobbles in the waning evening sunshine. This was Officine Générale’s 10th anniversary show and yet this reviewer’s first encounter with the brand (there are a whole lot of brands in the world). To my eyes it recalled some J Crew presentations seen at New York Fashion Week during the gilded period a decade ago when Mickey Drexler, Jenna Lyons, and Frank Muytjens achieved that rare trick of alchemizing a mid-mass apparel brand with luxury-level qualities of desirability and discernment. And thanks to a combination of gently tapering pant shape, leather sandals, and leather bijoux it also faintly echoed the aesthetic— if not the fabrication levels,