vowels Spring/Summer 2025 during Paris Men’s Fashion Week

vowels Spring/Summer 2025 / SS25 during Paris Men’s Fashion Week entitled shunkashuutou

In Paris on June 18, vowels debuted their first-ever spring/summer 2025 collection as a day-long presentation at the Musée des Arts et Métiers: Shunkashuutou. Creative Director Yuki Yagi approached the presentation as a site of deconstructed performance, inspired by seasons changing. Notable attendees were from American Vogue, Shon Magazine, L’Officiel Homme, GQ Korea.

Using the four seasons as a thematic arrangement, the Vowels SS25 collection was shown on four different standalone sets: Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. Referencing the functionality of the collection, the presentation showcased twenty different looks in four different tableaux rotating from one season to the next. The performance was set to the soundtrack of a remix of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” with music composed to follow the order of the presentation. The Spring set featured oversized, hand-painted flowers by Margaux Dereume of Tij Flowers. Overall set design was done by Nikki Lavollay.

Details of vowels Spring/Summer 2025, Motifs featured antique Japanese prints and textiles, along with shirt prints that Yagi felt were “classic and clean.” His approach was to “make products that can go well with any outfit you own” Patchwork was done in collaboration with a local Japanese vintage store owner who provided deadstock fabric to be reinterpreted. The overall style of silhouettes were constructed with a relaxed fit while maintaining a dual-gender fit.

Graphic Tee Shirts are screenprinted with images of historic pottery from Peru, Greece and Britain. Fleece tops reference vintage collegiate sweaters and crewnecks. Outerwear is utilitarian, with patchworked floral applique. Shirting in long and short-sleeve button-downs recall vintage Western and workwear prints, with ‘70s-inspired embroidery sewn onto pockets.

Knitwear is woven with the oversized vowels iconographic symbol, button-down grandfather cardigans have contrast front-pockets, while short-sleeve polo shirts and sweater vests recontextualize heritage styles. Bottoms range from patchworked denim to printed trousers with a recurring floral motif print, and cargo workwear pants. Accessories range from classic baseball and bucket hats, to logo socks, silk scarves, and utilitarian workwear backpacks and totes.

Looking to classic streetwear tropes updated with luxury fabrics and reimagined silhouettes, Yuki’s SS25 collection for vowels embraces an optimistic, effortless attitude. Like Mono-ha, the sum of the individual parts amounts to a collection that is quietly masterful, transcending temporality and genre.