Paris Fashion Week is adopting the ‘Early Bird’ theory by kicking off a day earlier than its usual annual date for its Spring Summer 2019 season.
According to the recently released preliminary calendar, by Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which is the French fashion’s governing body, the event will commence on 24th September, this year.
It is reported that Dior will be racing ahead of Jacquemes to the opening show- who had been opening the event with an evening show these past few seasons. The former is set to present early afternoon on Monday, September 24, followed by the latter showing at 6 p.m. in the evening.
Adding to the list of big names, we have Gucci showing on the same day in an off-calendar special event. The Italian luxury brand will be presenting late evening during the 9.30pm slot at Théâtre Le Palace, the legendary Paris discotheque, which has recently become quite popular among the fashion crowd.
The rest of the week will see a series of emerging homegrown designers, along with PFW-loyal brands, and also, a surprise return of some labels who had decamped to New York in the past few seasons.
Among the list of debutants, the most anticipated debut collection is that of Hedi Slimane’s for Céline, due to present on Sept. 28 at 8:30 p.m. Casey Cadwallader for Mugler presents his first full collection on Sept. 26, while Yolanda Zobel makes her debut at Courrèges on the same day.
Those returning to the Paris calendar after decamping to the New York runways, include Esteban Cortazar and Cédric Charlier.
The new talents include French label Afterhomework, started by Pierre Kaczmarek and Elena Mottola; Anton Belinskiy from Ukraine; Russian designer Natalia Alaverdian’s label A.W.A.K.E.,; and Swiss brand Ottolinger, by Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient, who were one of the semifinalists in this year’s LVMH Prize.
As a sign of their businesses coming under pressure, Carven, who has filed for the French equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Vanessa Seward, who is looking for a new investor after being dropped by her backer brand APC, will not be showing this season.
Also absent from the schedule are Lanvin, Nina Ricci and Lacoste – as they are all currently without designers.
All in all, there will reportedly be a total of 82 runway showcases in Paris this season, making it the second largest season on the international calendar after New York.
