The trends at Paris Fashion Week are statement coats, even bigger shoulders and sharp tailoring

PARIS (AP) — Paris men’s Fashion Week has been arguing for a new kind of authority this season — coat-first.

Across the runways, statement outerwear, bigger shoulders and sharp tailoring have been doing the work, turning familiar staples — trench coats, suits, denim and workwear — into clothes with a harder stance.

With the fashion week heading into its final stretch, the common thread is a push to make menswear more protective, performance-minded and built for real life, without losing the showmanship that defines Paris.

That argument landed most clearly at Dior Men, where Jonathan Anderson bent classic codes into new proportions, and Louis Vuitton, where Pharrell Williams framed luxury as practical convenience — heritage shapes upgraded with weatherproofing, reflectivity, reversibility and engineered comfort.

Other designers from Ami Paris to Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto and IM Men at Issey Miyake worked along the same lines: rebuild the shoulder, reshape the body, and lean into the idea of uniform — not as costume, but as modern equipment.

Paris menswear is also being driven by celebrity gravity, the kind that turns a runway into a global moment within minutes.

Dior’s room was packed with VIPs including Robert Pattinson, Lewis Hamilton and SZA.

Louis Vuitton delivered a front row mixing music, film and online fame — SZA, Usher, Future and Jackson Wang among them — plus a runway cameo from BamBam of GOT7.

The clothes are the product, but the frenzy is amplified by who is watching, who is posting, and who is seen.

Instead of chasing novelty for its own sake, many designers are taking familiar silhouettes and making them perform.

At Vuitton, Williams’ show was filled with recognizable pieces — double-breasted suits, blousons, polished outerwear; then the twist arrived in the materials and construction.

Tailoring carried reflective elements for night visibility.

Jackets turned into water-repellent hybrids.

Fabrics were lightened, waterproofed and sometimes embellished with crystal details that mimicked raindrops.

Accessories followed the same logic: caps designed to be crushed and returned to shape; shoes built to flex more like sneakers while still reading as traditional footwear.

The message was clear: luxury is not only a look. It is also capability.

Across brands, the silhouette focus moved upward. The shoulder became the season’s main design focus — where structure, protection and attitude all meet.

Anderson’s Dior treated tailoring history as a series of pivots.

Jackets nodded to the 1940s and early 1960s, then were cut abruptly short or shrunken to expose the hipbone.

Ordinary pieces were pushed into new scale — including a round-neck sweater extended to ankle length.

Throughout, he made the familiar feel new by changing proportion, fabric or what it was paired with.

IM Men also leaned into shoulder architecture, remixing outerwear by blending storm flaps into trench coats and amplifying volume.

Yohji Yamamoto used padding along arms and legs to give different bodies a similar shape, then controlled that bulk with buttons and adjustable details.

Even when designers disagreed on mood — sharp, romantic, severe, strange — they converged on shape: the body is being redesigned.

There has also been a clear emotional undercurrent: protection. Paris is dressing men for a world that feels harder, more uncertain, and more public.

Rick Owens described thinking about police uniforms and the impulse to mock a threat as a way of processing it.

His runway delivered skinny foundations, then added cropped jackets, tactical hybrids, leather and Kevlar-like materials, and ambiguous details that hinted at insignia without turning into costume.

His question — “sheriffs or outlaws?” — captured the season’s tension between authority and rebellion.

Yamamoto also drew from army and working clothes, but described a softer kind of protection: enveloping layers meant to endure long stretches outdoors.

IM Men’s draped, layered looks pushed a related idea, less militant than nomadic: clothing as shelter.

For all the experimentation, the week has not abandoned everyday dressing.

Ami Paris’ anniversary show was built on an idea of real Parisian style — camel coats, stripes, denim, clean tailoring — then refined through better proportion and styling.

The clothes were designed to mix easily, with small shifts that made them feel current: longer coats that sit better on the shoulder and cleaner lines.

The takeaway is that the daily wardrobe still matters, but it is being tightened and upgraded.

Dries Van Noten sharpened that idea with color and craft. Julian Klausner built the show around “coming of age" — men leaving home in hand-me-down coats, then made knitwear the engine, from structured-shoulder cardigans to patterned collar pieces on narrow coats and cloaks.

He also brought kilts and skirt-like belted layers back into the mix.

Saturated, pattern-heavy coats — including Polaroid florals and patchworked panels — showed how Paris can make a wardrobe feel new through layering, proportion and finish.

Many of the season’s strongest statements have come from styling as much as garments.

At Dior, Anderson’s “anti-normal” attitude appeared in wild wigs and ruff collars that turned what was formal and old into something sharp and slightly dangerous.

At Vuitton, the styling did the opposite — staying restrained — while letting materials and construction carry the message: classic shapes, but built for movement and weather.

While Dior and Vuitton set the tone, the rest of the schedule reinforced it in different registers — wearability with precision at Ami, confrontation and control at Owens, protection through layering at Yohji, and sculpted outerwear at IM Men.

With the week ending Sunday, the final shows will decide whether this season’s turn toward function and shape becomes a deeper shift — or remains a Paris moment where luxury briefly proved it can be practical, too.

A model wears a creation as part of the Issey Miyake Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Men's collection presented in Paris, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Dries Van Noten Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Men's collection presented in Paris, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Men's collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A model wears a creation as part of the Dior Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Men's collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Models wear creations as part of the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Men's collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslim pilgrims from around the world congregated on Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the second official day of the annual Islamic pilgrimage, considered the pinnacle of the Hajj.

Despite the sweltering heat, the pilgrims gathered on the rocky hill and surrounding plain for intense prayers and worship that often mark a spiritual peak for them. They fervently murmured prayers and poured their hearts out in supplications. Many raised their hands in worship. It is common for pilgrims on that day, some with tears streaming down their faces, to ask God for forgiveness, mercy, blessings and good health.

The Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is required once in a lifetime for every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to perform it.

For pilgrims, the Hajj, performed over several days, can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness and the erasure of past sins. As they brave the intense heat to perform religious rituals, many pilgrims have been using umbrellas for shade.

A Saudi official said on Friday that more than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in the country from abroad.

This year, Muslims have been pouring into Saudi Arabia for the Hajj against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related uncertainty in the region.

The U.S. military said Monday that it carried out “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats used to lay mines, even as President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations with Tehran were “proceeding nicely." Iran on Tuesday denounced the most recent U.S. strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations pressed on toward a possible deal to end the war.

For many, performing the Hajj can be a realization of a lifelong dream as they spend years hoping and praying to one day be able to undertake the pilgrimage or saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the trip.

“This happens once in a lifetime,” Mohammad Asal, an Egyptian pilgrim, said. “People here have prepared their prayers, hoping that God will respond to them, because we know that ... the most important ritual of the Hajj is being in Arafat.”

The Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and socioeconomic classes, creating a sense of unity for many. It’s a mass, communal experience, with Muslims performing rituals together. But it is also deeply personal, as every pilgrim brings their own yearnings and experiences.

“It was incredible,” Ahmed Sufyan, a pilgrim from the United States, said on Tuesday. “The unity and peace that we feel is something I’ve never experienced before,” he added via WhatsApp.

“Our wishes are many,” Mohammad Obaid, a Sudanese pilgrim, said, adding he was praying for Sudan and Muslims everywhere.

Fam reported from Winter Park, Florida.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A Muslim pilgrim pray atop of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Muslim pilgrims walk towards the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Muslim pilgrims are silhouetted as they pray at top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Muslim pilgrims pray at top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Muslim pilgrims read a copy of Islam's holy book Quran atop of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)