Expect American-Portuguese brand Ernest W Baker and Japanese label Auralee to turn heads with their textural menswear collections, which combine complex craft with ease of wear. Elsewhere, Jacquemus will debut on the official Paris schedule for the first time, with a refined take on its distinctive masculine silhouette.

But what’s the talk of the town? After all, there’s more to do during Paris Fashion Week Menswear than gorge on pillowy croque-monsieurs from Café de Flore or pop into Dries Van Noten’s flagship shop on Quai Malaquais (though I’ll be doing both while in town, naturellement). The loose lips of the fashion crowd are in chorus with one another this year. You’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed the whispers circling around Dior. Rumours abound that Jonathan Anderson is set to leave his role as creative director at Loewe and take over both menswear and womenswear at the French house in what would be a disruptive but welcome career switch. Until that is confirmed, I’ll be nibbling on that piping hot croque-monsieur and enjoying the more provocative looks on display. Paris should always be a steamy affair.

Teo van den Broeke is a style expert and award-winning journalist covering men’s fashion. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Now in its 55th year, the meeting has traditionally had the advantage of being one of the year’s first big conventions, thus commanding attention. However, though Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, have jetted in, many heads of state are absent. Staggeringly, Scholz and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will be the only G7 leaders present. Perhaps the WEF meeting has started to feel like just another gathering on a calendar full of barely distinguishable wing-dings attended by people who will see each other again anyway. It began in 1971 as the European Management Symposium, an admittedly unsexily titled gathering of senior business folks. It might be time for the WEF to remember its founding principles. As many experienced attendees would wearily agree, politicians have a habit of getting in the way.

Michaela Friberg-Storey, the UN’s resident co-ordinator in Thailand, has described the legislation as “one of the best examples of non-discrimination policy, reflecting [the nation’s] long-standing commitment to human rights and equality for LGBTIQ+ persons”. The country is leading the way in the region and is likely to see a boost in tourism. Will the Philippines or Singapore follow suit? Surely everyone loves an island wedding.

How did you create ‘Le La Serpent’?
I had a vision of two forms – one of them masculine and the other feminine; one Adam and the other Eve. The serpent draws the symbol of infinity around them. The whole thing is made from cotton with a bamboo skeleton. The material is very thin and carefully crocheted together in long, striped patterns.

When did you start working with fabrics?
A long time ago. I was interested in playing with the idea of tension – quite literally – by stretching and pulling fabrics into forms. One day I went to my grandmother’s house and explained this thought and my great-aunt, who often sat knitting on my grandmother’s sofa, invited me to join her. Even nowadays the crocheting I do isn’t complex. I always use the simplest stitch that she taught me.

How do you approach works such as this?
I want my work to be understandable. It has to be laid out so that people can see how it was constructed. While you can hide many things from others, you cannot hide them from yourself. That’s what my work is trying to reflect by letting its viewers see every stitch.