Amazing news from Paris menswear, guys. We got custody of Zayn! By “we”, I mean “fashion”, obviously. Yup, after lying pretty low for nearly three months after quitting One Direction, Zayn Malik has made his comeback into public life. And he chose to do so not by hanging out in wellies backstage at Glastonbury, but by getting dressed up to the nines and hitting up the Paris menswear shows. The year’s biggest blow to pre-teen girlhood is turning out to be an unexpected windfall for the style world.
Among Paris show attendees, the utter hotness of Zayn was the runaway number one topic of conversation. A typical comment went something like, “So handsome it’s ridiculous. Have you seen his eyes? Oh. My. God.” Pretty impressive, when you consider how jaded showgoers are. Of course, it helped a lot that he was seriously well dressed. He pulled off a Hawaiian-slash-baseball-style Vuitton jacket with a panache that led American Vogue to report that “if this is any indication of the look he’s crafting for his solo career, then expect to see him rise to the top of the charts”, and rocked a front row seat at the show, next to Kanye West. At Valentino, he wore a navy frock coat with burgundy and ivory trim with matching navy trousers, and a crisp white shirt. Not everyone can carry off such formal tailoring with a platinum buzz cut and a diamond nose ring. But guess what: Zayn can.
Zayn’s stellar Paris appearances were a happy surprise, because after a toned-down monochrome suit at the Asian Awards in April, his most recent fashion “moment” had been the reveal of ill-advised apple green hair, on fiancee Perrie’s Instagram account. But now, he’s showing signs of fulfilling the promise he showed as the most-directional member of One Direction. Remember when Zayn was wearing a polo neck under blazers, back in 2013, and we were all a bit sniffy? And then the following year … oh, wait, we were all wearing the exact same thing. And band stylist Caroline Watson never came out and said it, but we always suspected that Zayn was stylist’s pet: he is, after all, the only band member who Watson made godfather to her daughter, Brook.
Zayn: welcome. Come to the London menswear shows next time, and we’ll make a homemade banner, OK?
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