Paris had not achieved such a performance for a long time: fashion week, which was held from February 26 to March 5, demonstrated the exceptional creative vitality of the capital, both on the part of luxury houses and international fame as well as that of independent brands, from “first times” to established stylists.
Monday February 26
Four o’clock. The new ritual of Parisian fashion week consists of starting this nine-day marathon with the show of the master’s students of the French Fashion Institute (IFM). Twenty-seven participants from thirteen nationalities each presented between five and seven looks, or one hundred and fifty-eight silhouettes. Brigitte Macron, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, and a large number of leaders from the fashion world made the trip, including Michael Burke, CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group, and Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion activities.
The school does not hide its ambition to compete with Central Saint Martins in London, where John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Kim Jones, Phoebe Philo and Riccardo Tisci have graduated. Among the young IFM stylists, the work of knitwear hits the mark: devoured, blown up to the max, pierced as if burned with acid, twisted, reduced to filaments of lace… Eccentricity is in order, of course, like this impressive gothic outfit with black lacquered feathers, but it seems more restrained than last season.
Around 7 p.m., head to the Marais. Rue Elzévir, in the basement of the Lemaire boutique, is holding an exhibition of photos by Osma Harvilahti taken in Vietnam during two trips in 2023 until March 17. Men and women on scooters carry the last two spring-summer collections (2023 and 2024) from the independent Parisian brand. They circulate between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, between asphalt and vegetation. The wind rushes through the light fabrics in subtle colors. Landscapes parade as much as fashion. The two-wheelers speed by and time stops.
It is after 8 p.m. when four musicians sit in the center of the podium installed in the Palais de Tokyo. Squeaky violins, screams, short breaths: Serbian composer Hristina ušak has imagined a score worthy of a horror film. But its sponsor, the Japanese Yusuke Takahashi, whose first show under the CFCL brand in the official calendar, offers a soft collection, where seamless knitting based on recycled polyester, and sometimes Lurex, dominates, precisely programmed by software that helps reduce the amount of textile waste.
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