The new Nahmias collection was titled Wipeout: surf and skate jargon that means crashing hard. “It’s really that feeling of the thrill and discomfort of almost conquering something and what could have come of it. I surf and skate, and I wipe out. I just wanted to put that energy in the collection,” said Doni Nahmias backstage before the show. Is wipeout a metaphor for being an independent designer? “I would say that too,” he replied.
Yet the designer, who created his namesake menswear brand in California in 2018, is riding high. He partnered with Timothée Chalamet and his stylist Taylor McNeill on the sold-out Marty Supreme clothing line, and this season he returned to the Paris runway after a three-year hiatus with a bang. (Nahmias has been presenting in a Paris showroom since his last show for fall 2023). Next up is an official collaboration with Formula One on multiple pop-ups and drops.
Today’s off-calendar show at the Palais de Tokyo felt like a jolt of Californian optimism cutting through the bleak winter, not least because he sent guests off to the soundtrack of The Beach Boys’s “Good Vibrations.” The 39 looks were an ode to Californian style, including beaded denim featuring a water-splashed look, gray camo pants in suede and oversized baggy swim trunks with a Hawaiian surf print, also in suede. “It’s taking that whole world [of surfing] and elevating it,” Nahmias said. The collection also featured tailoring and elements of suiting, twisted in a Nahmias way: the trousers had a waistband like an old swim trunk and a cord at the bottom, allowing you to tuck them into your socks. “It’s like the surfer dudes had raided their parents’ closet,” said fashion editor Gro Curtis, who consults for Nahmias. Other standout pieces were the chunky sweaters, which Curtis described as “very Kurt Cobain-ish.”
The show kicked off with a Puma collaboration, beginning with the Puma Suede in three colorways, which will be released in February, followed in April by the Puma Speedcat and an accompanying apparel line. Nahmias also introduced loafers and boat shoes, alongside new accessories and high-end jewelry pieces (the mushroom-shaped pendant made you do a double take.) “He is just making clothes that he and his friends—including Timothee Chalamet, Justin Bieber and Charles Leclerc—want to wear,” said Curtis. “His perspective is practical. It’s not an in-your-face fashion or trend. Doni sticks to his guts: streetwear is not dead. He changes season after season in a very gentle way.”
This season, Nahmias developed its own hand-drawn cartoons with artist John Massé, inspired by ’90s cartoons. In addition to putting out multiple 35-second episodes on social media, the characters were woven into the collection, appearing on a sweater, a bag and keychains. The stars of the animated series are a skater, a basketball player, a stoned surfer, and a French fashion critic, who follows the trio in a humorous quest to uncover the ‘secret sauce’ of California style. I felt seen.
