Street style photography at Paris Fashion Week's menswear spring and summer season was unlike any other in history.

Temperatures reached over 40°C at the peak of each day. Nevertheless, documenting candid street photography moments and posed portraits with attendees for LE MILE magazine’s PFW SS27 editorial felt among the most dynamic.

Strong light and hard shadows cut across the streets, and the late sun kept Paris bright into the evening while I looked for passing scenes alongside relaxed portraits.

The Heat

Beyond Fashion Week, Paris reorganised itself around the weather.

Paris made swimming in part of Canal Saint-Martin official during the heatwave. Parisians had jumped in before, rules or not, but permission changed the mood: young swimmers queued to jump and flip as what felt like the whole city lined the banks.

Shirtless young swimmers and a woman in a purple bikini top climb the steps through temporary fencing at Canal Saint-Martin during the Paris heatwave, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Street photography: Parisians climb through the fence to jump into the Canal Saint-Martin.

Shirtless young men lean over the green railings above Canal Saint-Martin in front of a Haussmann building during the Paris heatwave, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Street photography: Parisians line up before jumping into the Canal Saint-Martin.

Boy in adidas trackpants and adidas slides frozen mid-jump above Canal Saint-Martin as crowds line the banks, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Street photography: a Parisian in full Adidas caught mid-air, jumping into the Canal Saint-Martin.

In flats where air conditioning is rare, people moved like cats looking for a strip of shade.

Some showtimes moved earlier, leaving a siesta-sized hole in my afternoon: an excellent way to run it. Rick Owens shifted to the morning, at least slowing the rate at which guests' leather outfits filled with sweat.

Colourful hand fans and electric handheld ones appeared in everyone's hands, some of them handed out by the staff facilitating the shows.

Our fourth-floor walk-up was an oven, which pushed me back onto even hotter streets to shoot and meant four showers a day, with four outfits to match.

I still got close enough to heatstroke chasing the right angle and light to know I'd pushed myself too far.

Couple kissing on a red gingham blanket by Canal Saint-Martin, the woman holding a white electric handheld fan in 40°C heat, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Street photography: a couple holds an electric fan close while kissing on the bank of the Canal Saint-Martin.

The City

Since I began covering Paris for LE MILE in January, this was the first trip where I saw the city properly. Before, the programme was my whole Paris experience: its locations taught me the map. Show locations were my map landmarks.

Between catching the entrances and exits of shows, I walked the 3rd arrondissement, following its character and detail as I do in London street photography.

It’s how I explore a new city and travel. It doesn’t take much to make me happy. Before my move to London, I spent ten months travelling through Asia, focusing solely on candid street shots, and wrote about how I learnt to overcome the awkwardness of street photography, which has now become my meditation between a busy schedule.

Guests I usually saw only outside venues appeared on patios, escaping the heat. Fashion Week had spread through Paris like a house party that had outgrown the house, and this time I felt part of it.

Three older Parisian men in a grey vest, lavender polo and red polo lean on a red barrier outside the Doublet show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Onlookers outside Doublet’s Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

““Fashion moved through the streets with less formality, yet no less intent.””

— LE MILE

Couple eating at a café table on a Paris patio, the man in a white ribbed tank top with arm tattoos, escaping the afternoon heat, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Street photography: a lively patio in Paris’ 3rd arrondissement during the heatwave.

The Menswear

I prefer winter fashion for the layers and fits, but June had an energy January's fall and winter Paris Fashion Week menswear season for LE MILE, and men’s street style for The Rakish Gent couldn't match.

The sun stayed out until 10 pm while I photographed the menswear I've long preferred, and despite the menswear label, my subjects were roughly evenly split – something that surprised my photographer friends who only travel for womenswear week.

The flash stayed home. The women often wore the streetwear I admire, with strong shoulders and flowing, boxy tailoring. Somehow, there were still layers at 40°C.

I've got nothing against evening gowns, but relatability matters to me, shaping the lived-in locations and texture in my fashion photography work alongside the trust I want with non-models. I bring the same approach to my lifestyle photography and my portfolio as a whole.

Loreto Peralta in a navy adidas x Willy Chavarria football jersey and gold chain necklace outside the Willy Chavarria show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — @loretoperalta outside Willy Chavarria’s Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

During March's fall and winter womenswear for LE MILE, I found the menswear-adjacent looks I love, though womenswear required far more selective shooting – which became all the more difficult with crowds and photographer numbers three times the size.

There's a thin, blurry line between artist, street style photographer and paparazzi, so when a herd runs at one guest, I first ask whether I'll use the photo at all.

What am I doing here? Why am I running right now?

Most often, I never do anything with those photos.

Menswear gives me time to connect because fewer photographers mean more rapport, letting me make a relaxed portrait and wait for whatever happens on either side. My high school photography teacher, who was one of Vancouver’s top concert photographers at the time, told us to “always shoot where no one else is shooting”, something I’ve mentioned many times before in my blog posts when describing capturing candid moments.

Editorial work for LE MILE, or anyone else, has to sit inside the Venn diagram of what I'd shoot anyway because, as a people photographer and London fashion photographer, I can't separate commissions from photographs I'd make myself.

Street style is where the candid, documentary side of my London street photography meets my street photography around the world. Its movement and composition come from the urban landscapes I photograph while travelling.

Two guests in black tailoring and a white Carhartt WIP graphic T-shirt outside the Sacai show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — Models off-duty outside Sacai’s Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

The Standouts

My favourites tend to be the Japanese designers: the photograph I made of Pharrell at Comme des Garçons will sit near the front of my final edit, while Yohji Yamamoto brought his unique talent.

LE MILE used my favourite Doublet frame as the editorial banner.

Pharrell Williams in a grey hooded jacket, yellow sunglasses and a Louis Vuitton monogram cap outside the Comme des Garçons show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — @pharrell outside Comme des Garçons’ Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

Doublet guests in a graphic T-shirt and eyelet skirt, beige bandage dress and patchwork denim outside the show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — The candid queue outside Doublet’s Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

While Juun.J stood out again and 3.Paradis surprised me, Rick Owens remains the show I look forward to most. Willy Chavarria, on the other hand, had one of my favourite shows last season, so I wanted to see what he'd deliver, and he didn’t disappoint.

In high school, Vetements T-shirts sat at the unattainably cool centre of the hypebeast scene. I'd be stoked to have pieces from this show in my wardrobe. Their runway show return was the one I was most excited for, and so were the fans who lined the street. Being friendly with security and treating them like the real, kind humans they are is key to avoiding being scolded for standing where you shouldn’t.

Woman in a red lace-up dress holding a Gucci magazine with a matching red cover look outside the Lemaire show, Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear — A passerby outside Lemaire’s Paris Fashion Week SS27 menswear show.

The Summer

After Paris came Berlin Fashion Week for Pinterest, with Copenhagen Fashion Week around the corner.

Mid-trip, I photographed Dermot Kennedy for Brooks Running in Dublin and spent time on street photography of Istanbul's people and cats. This was the Euro summer I'd always wanted for my photography career.

When all my street photography meets my other passions, like travel and running. Run clubs have shaped the community I’ve made in London, having moved here as a freelance photographer two years ago (with no coworkers), and I had been eying Brooks trainers for months – I was long ready to say goodbye to my Hokas that caused one too many blisters.

While I was away, my advertising campaign with IBM for Wimbledon went live across London: the campaign drew on the way I photograph London's streets as a photographer in London. I had two days to see the placements before packing again.