Fashion shows: a virtual future?<

June 2020: the Fédération de la haute couture et de la mode announces its new system for the next Fashion Weeks, those of haute couture (July 6 to 8) and men's fashion (July 9 to 13). It will be a digital platform where each house is invited to freely express its creative universe through live or pre-recorded fashion shows, clips, video montages or short films. A totally online Paris Fashion Week? This is the first time in its history, but not the last.

Due to the health crisis, the physical parades are struggling, and those dedicated to the fall-winter 2021 collections of women's ready-to-wear will also switch to digital from March 1. “From a form of resilience to which we were forced, affirms Pascal Morand, executive president of the federation, we have succeeded, in partnership with the technological company Launchmetrics, in opening up a field of innovation which has led all designers to set up new creative combinations to amplify the visual impact of their collections presented on digital.”

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Request the program

Between the magical short films of the Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone for the haute couture of Dior, the live performances of the Hermès men's show staged backstage behind the camera of Cyril Teste or the knights of the Celine show sumptuously filmed at the Château de Chambord, creativity on the catwalks has been increased to provide thrills and sensations on the screens. Should we expect this digital platform to definitively replace physical parades? Pascal Morand's answer is clear and clear: “The sector as a whole has only one desire: for Fashion Weeks to resume face-to-face. Unveiling a collection live is a unique moment for a designer, for an artistic director and for his team, a snapshot of emotion, adrenaline and communion with an audience that is incomparable. And for those watching, it's obvious that the collections don't feel the same way in virtual mode."

The phygital era

Will a return to normal mean the end of online shows? "We will continue, as a federation, to coordinate this professional event with physical parades, says Pascal Morand, but will continue our opening to the general public with this platform accessible to all." In summary: we are witnessing a definitive switch to phygital, this fusion of the physical and the digital.

In video, the Balmain spring-summer 2021 fashion show

What about the houses that, for various reasons, have left the official calendar? “They will come back, underlines Pascal Morand. Because concentrating events in a unit of time and space generates less travel, a factor that is not insignificant for an industry that ensures the preservation of the environment. I say it calmly: Paris Fashion Week still has a bright future ahead of it. »

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