The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Ninety-two brands plan to stage runway shows, presentations or digital collection reveals during Paris women’s ready-to-wear week from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, the event’s organizing body Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode said Tuesday.
Balenciaga is set to return to the Paris schedule, the first of Kering’s major brands to come back to the traditional calendar after showing outside organised fashion weeks since the start of the pandemic. Others planning to return to Paris include Rick Owens, who staged his recent shows on the Venice Lido, and Rome-based Valentino, which has remained in Italy in recent seasons due to coronavirus concerns.
LVMH brands showing include Paris fashion week regulars Dior, Louis Vuitton, Loewe and Givenchy, though missing from the list is Hedi Slimane’s Celine.
New additions to the calendar include shows by star designer Raf Simons and emerging Paris label Ludovic de Saint Sernin (both of whom usually show during menswear week), as well as the British brand Paul Smith, Dutch label Botter and Shang Xia, the Chinese luxury start-up backed by Italy’s Agnelli family and Hermès).
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AZ Factory, the Richemont-owned new label launched in January by the late designer Alber Elbaz, will stage a tribute to its founder who passed away in April just months after revealing the brand’s first collection.
In total, the week will include 37 physical runway shows and 32 physical presentations, with the remaining events either undecided or slated to take place online-only.
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Fashion week news, reviews, and analysis by BoF.
Hermes saw Chinese buyers snap up its luxury products as the Kelly bag maker showed its resilience amid a broader slowdown in demand for the sector.
The group’s flagship Prada brand grew more slowly but remained resilient in the face of a sector-wide slowdown, with retail sales up 7 percent.
The guidance was issued as the French group released first-quarter sales that confirmed forecasts for a slowdown. Weak demand in China and poor performance at flagship Gucci are weighing on the group.
Consumers face less, not more, choice if handbag brands can't scale up to compete with LVMH, argues Andrea Felsted.