joy division t shirt / hoodie

Thursday, October 15, 2015

To loaf is Parisian

7-10-Margaret-Zhang-PFW-Louis-Vuitton-Fernanda-Ly

Margaret-Zhang-PFW-Invites

1-10-Margaret-Zhang-PFW-Balmain-Stella-Maxwell

declared - “Having to run to a different place for every bloody food group and then everything else is not as Amélie as you’d think.” Fair. But work in Paris never feels like work – every show and showroom is in a more awe-inspiring location than the last. Paris’ blue shadows and yellow lights after dark make heady late nights working from your windowsill quietly poetic. Brutally early call times for shoots and meetings are softened by sunrise along the Seine – one of those tear-inducing sights to be absorbed in solitude with the stupidly cliché strains of an accordion puncturing your imagination.

You really can lock yourself up in a romantic sepia bubble, only allowing yourself to be rudely awakened to deal with logistical nightmares like the entire arrondissement surrounding your photo studio for the day being blocked off for a marathon, or traffic. Dear god the traffic. Fortunately, the car I had while I was in town was a practical Lexus with the most generously proportioned sunroof I’ve ever seen, so I spent most of my time (and I probably did clock more time stationary in traffic than I did at actual appointments) dividing my attention between my laptop and 18th century architecture and amber Autumn leaves rushing (or crawling) overhead.

Further to all that alternate reality of black and white French cinema, Paris Fashion Week really is its own beast. With the exception of breakout design talent or seismic shifts in old fashion houses (everyone had basically been holding their breath for Alessandro Michele’s next round of Gucci since Givenchy’s set and sentiment knocked us out in New York), Paris is essentially where the innovation happens. Nicolas Ghesquière, Raf Simons, Sarah Burton, Rick Owens… (and now perhaps Demna Gvasalia, is Kering has now decreed). That, and the shows are shows – performances with stories – rather than the expressionless up and down of sterile lighting.

Only Proenza Schouler gets away with that – their collections speak for themselves.

dome interior) with new age Victorian undergarments and futuristic ceramic talismans.

Further to the spectacle, Paris collections are truly international, and so increasingly seasonless. Unlike US-centric brands who, for a range of import-export tax handicaps, remain firmly focused on what safe pattern repeats will least freak out their loyal but conservative consumers, in Paris, there’s a market for furs and silks alike. Most of the Asian and Middle Eastern press and buyers I spoke to over the week admitted that they never bothered with New York, London or Milan – the grandeur of Paris was the one that spoke to their readers and clients.

For similar reasons, Delpozo, their comms team explained, will continue to show in New York for the press, and run their showroom in Paris for market, even with industry wondering every season when they’ll make the move to showing in Europe. In New York, they’re the standout that everybody looks forward to (alongside Proenza and probably Marc Jacobs).

So Paris, it seems, embodies both realms of cold hard commerce (plus a little leverage for fragrances and accessories while we’re at it), and the oft other-worldly realisations of genius minds that feed the soul and remind those who care why we put ourselves through this minefield of an industry, rather than admiring from safety afar. Sure, my brother is always the first to remind me in times of work-related hysteria that fashion isn’t saving any lives. Touché. But it does create beautiful things. Paris creates beautiful things.

More on that later.

For now, here are a few PFW highlights for your visual appetite, with more folders of moment HERE. There are plenty more dedicated show posts to come once I’m done with this Media Law essay, kids!

4-10-Margaret-Zhang-Paris-Fashion-Week-Dior-Rochas-Vince-Bassike-Givenchy-ASOS

5-10-Margaret-Zhang-PFW-DIOR

6-10-Margaret-Zhang-PFW-CHANEL-AIRLINES

The post To loaf is Parisian appeared first on Shine By Three.

No comments:

Post a Comment