The Paris Fashion Week Is Back in Full Swing

The organisers are assisting brands in reducing their environmental impact at the exhibitions and have established a fund to aid new designers.

PARIS — Now that Paris Fashion Week is in full swing again, organisers at the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode are facing the myriad logistical hurdles of planning a nine-day schedule for 105 different labels.

There are 67 events and 41 talks scheduled for spring 2023, and several ways their environmental impact might be mitigated. Short-term concerns include bolstering exhibition venue security in the face of an influx of unwelcome attendees.

A national strike has been announced for Thursday, which may disrupt public transportation and add to the city's severe traffic congestion and lack of cabs.

The newly elected president of the federation, Bruno Pavlovsky, and the executive president of the governing body for French fashion, Pascal Morand, are working together to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic era, in which brands face a new set of problems that threaten to derail their recoveries, such as rising inflation, energy shortages, and ongoing supply chain disruptions.

In an interview with WWD, Pavlovsky and Morand noted a "quite energetic resurgence" in recent fashion weeks. That's encouraging news. Since fashion has once again assumed a central position in the global economy, this year's Paris Fashion Week will be, as usual, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Both executives mentioned that business travellers from China were hitting the road again for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. "It's a modest and regulated opening, but it's happening," said Chanel SAS President and Fashion President, Pavlovsky. For example, "I've had more business meetings with Chinese executives in the previous two months than in the last two years."

A slew of Asian labels, like Mame Kurogouchi and Noir Kei Ninomiya, have returned to the Paris runways for the first time since 2020.

The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode has just chosen to extend an assistance fund for emerging designers put in place during the epidemic to ensure that smaller domestic and international firms have the finances to show in the French capital.

According to Morand, the yearly budget of the federation is close to one million euros, and this does not include funding granted by the DEFI. This organisation encourages the growth of the French fashion industry.

"These are the spark plugs that get manufacturers to display in Paris," he said, noting that the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum also offers designers a discounted show space and the Sphere showroom.

Since the world is constantly changing, there will always be valid reasons to back upstart brands. It was COVID-19 only a second ago, and now we're discussing costs. Today, it's crucial that Paris retain its charm," Pavlovsky said. Putting on a show or making a collection is becoming more complex and expensive in the current economic climate. Brands shouldn't be able to be stopped from exhibiting here because of these problems.

Bruno Pavlovsky and Pascal Morand.

Morand remarked that 56 foreign labels, ranging from the new wave of Chinese design to high-profile newcomers like the United Kingdom's Victoria Beckham and Australia's Zimmermann, will participate in the spring 2023 women's presentations in Paris. The statement "we are objectively, by far, the most worldwide fashion week" was made.

One trend gaining steam is the increasing number of people who travel specifically to watch shows, raising safety concerns. According to Morand, "March was the turning point, with massive groups of young people."

Since the brands are helping to feed the phenomena by progressively opening their displays to the public, the federation is working with Parisian officials and the police to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. Morand emphasised the importance of sufficient safety measures for all homes, especially those less used to dealing with security difficulties.

Pavlovsky argued that the democratisation of fashion presentations might have become too extreme following the pandemic.

Some alterations, I believe, will be necessary for Paris. Many people tried to enter concerts without invitations or forged invitations in July," he stated. We still need to coordinate with the local law enforcement and private security firms, which is incompatible with throwing open the doors to the shows to everyone.

Behind the scenes, with the help of measurement methods established with professional services firm PwC, the fashion group is assisting businesses in lowering the negative impact of their events and collections on the environment.

About 120 key performance indicators (KPIs) are calculated by the events tool, which spans the entire event lifecycle from contracting a production company to finalising wardrobe and technical details via digital channels. Unofficially released in September 2018, use increased to 57% among participating sponsors for the autumn 2022 shows.

According to Morand, "the goal is to achieve 80% participation for September." Collections, a solution geared at companies with yearly revenues of 20 million to 30 million euros, will be released by the end of the year.

However, Pavlovsky emphasised that sustainability was a primary goal for the federation and that it was committed to raising awareness, educating and assisting participating businesses. He anticipated that operationally substantial change would likely take five years.

I'd like to see the Paris Fashion Week carbon and CSR impact published one day. We're currently in the building phase, and that can only be done with everyone's help," he stated, emphasising that a paradigm shift is necessary for ecological design. A more extended period is needed since "it's more expensive. It shouldn't come at the expense of innovation."

Additionally, the federation is involved in European politics as a voting member of the technical secretariat for the worldwide apparel and footwear sector, developing the European Commission's Product Environmental Footprint methodology. In this capacity, it advocates for excluding luxury items from the same environmental labelling as fast fashion to highlight their unique qualities.

Reducing the length of Paris Fashion Week by a few days could help reduce its environmental impact and address the concerns of those who believe the event costs too much. However, Pavlovsky dismissed the idea, arguing that it would be detrimental to some participants to condense the schedule further.

It's crucial to provide equal opportunity for all. It's what draws people to Paris, he continued. People won't stay if you spread all the big houses across two days. Currently, it isn't easy. The federation makes sure each designer and firm has a Fashion Week venue. We must also urge as many journalists as possible to stay long-term.