The fashion industry’s calendar is complex, gridlocked and unforgiving.
Designers, buyers, press and everyone in between are the first to admit the
pace of fashion today is as exhaustive as it is unforgiving.
That is perhaps why the calendar during haute couture is somewhat of a
relief in comparison to the merry-go-round of ready-to-wear. Could it be
the silver lining in the clouded world of fashion? There are no global
cities to travel to, there is only Paris, the home of couture. With just a
few shows timed throughout today, it is here where a five day schedule of
fashion’s most luxurious houses and creators present their latest
collections in probably the most relaxed week of all fashion weeks.
The haute couture schedule comes directly after the men’s fashion weeks and
pre-collections, so for some buyers and press it is the culmination of
another fashion marathon. British Vogue told me they had been in Paris for
three weeks, wrapping up their research with a couture shoot for their
October Art issue. Some buyers, like New York’s Bergdorf Goodman, pointed
out they had been in Paris since the pre-collections presentations, writing
orders for one of the most important retail drops that gets shipped to
stores from mid October. They stayed for couture as it didn’t make sense to
fly back to New York for three days only to have to return to Paris a
second time. Such is the calendar for those working in the upper echelons
of the industry.
At Ronald van der Kemp’s press day, a Dutch designer who presents his demi
couture collections during the couture season, Virginie Maunier from
international buying office Lambert & Associates mentioned how the industry
is in complete disarray and perennially facing economic challenges, but at
least during couture there is a little breathing space for her clients.
Perhaps that is why designers outside of the couture realm are flocking to
Paris to take advantage of its new found moment of fashion zen. When
everyone is in town but not laden with commitments, it makes perfect
business sense to launch something new and take advantage of their time.
Italian menswear brand Brioni debuted its first collection under new
Creative Director Justin O’Shea during Paris couture and simultaneously
launched a few styles in upmarket fashion emporium Colette. From the
catwalk direct to retail, Colette announced it welcomed Justin O’Shea’s
first collection for the iconic Italian fashion house Brioni, which sells
smoking jackets for 2,700 euros and three piece suits for 3,500 euros.
Outside the Brioni store on rue Saint-Honoré, which is being refurbished to
meet the new aesthetics of the brand, a single logo’d beer can decorated
the window. The message of luxury-meets-rock-&-roll has been
particularly relevant this season.
But it wasn’t all launches and collections. On Tuesday the third annual
edition of the Vogue Paris Foundation brought together the biggest names in
the fashion and creative industries at the Palais Galleria, to support the
museum’s contemporary fashion collections. The following day saw Natalia
Vodianova choose the Louis Vuitton Foundation for the fifth edition of the
Love Ball, this year around the theme of ‘The Art of Giving’, hoping the
star-studded couture crowd would be generous at its auction to raise money
for the model’s charity, the Naked Heart Foundation.
For all the glamour and general ease of the couture calendar, the political
backdrop of France and Europe didn’t go unnoticed. At every street corner
there were armies of police, ready to act at any sign of terror. At luxury
boutiques, guards took to bag searches for any and every customer entering
their premises. During a spontaneous demonstration on Place de la Concorde,
this editor was caught in a mob of police armed with riot gear trying to
control a growing crowd of protestors. When the world is in disarray, so
too is the fashion industry.
Images:Brion boutique, source FashionUnited; Brioni campaign, source Metallica blog, RVDK press day, source FashionUnited