Paris is a destination I keep returning to, whether for Fashion Weeks or simply to visit friends over the weekend. Being just an hour away by train certainly makes these frequent trips feasible. My recent visits to Paris were primarily for friends' celebrations, but this time, my stay coincided with the Couture shows. Although I didn't attend any shows physically, the city's vibe was distinctly different from my last few visits. I've experienced Paris during fashion weeks in the past, but never have I felt the city so intricately woven around the event. This time, it seemed as though everything was about the fashion week.
Parisians, to me, are a breed apart, the kind that has a natural sense of style but a complete indifference about fashion. There is this amazing analysis about the Parisian It Girl that
did a couple of weeks ago and you should read it if you are up to understanding better the topic, however I think that the Parisian It Girl was buried the moment that fashion designers started capitalising on this. Consider Jeanne Damas, the epitome of the Parisian It Girl as we know it and the founder of Rouje. The brand, launched in 2016, skyrocketed in popularity by 2022, with everyone raving about the iconic "Gabin" dress and Jeanne's Jane Birkin-inspired style. As the ambassador of her brand, Jeanne's fashion choices became the new obsession for online shoppers, especially during the post-lockdown period when everyone was already used on shopping online.That period marked the peak of the Parisian It Girl, but also the moment Parisians themselves began distancing from this label. French individuals, striving for uniqueness, grew weary of being stereotyped. As the world reopened and people started moving again, I noticed a radical shift in Parisians' style. They seemed to be making an effort to appear even cooler, while the Parisian It Girl image, clung onto by tourists in berets and basket bags, was conspicuously absent among the locals. Paris is now an international style hub, akin to cities like New York, Tokyo, or London, boasting a diverse urban fashion mosaic.
This time I visited Paris with my friend
who was visiting from New York. As we sat in a charming restaurant in Place du Tertre, savoring snails, she remarked how Europe has become a tourist magnet for activities that Europeans themselves rarely engage in, like buying a painting from the art vendors in Monmartre or walking by the Seine taking pictures of the book kiosks or eating snails in Place du Tertre. It made me think that as with touristic attractions, similarly, fashion is in the heart of Paris but Parisians were not necessarily doing it on purpose or were interested in it per se, but it seems that right now people that live in Paris have a strong interest in fashion, and that’s not an observation made visually alone, but it’s also backed from the Google Searches that people make in Paris the last 5 years.Another proof of how fashion is a new topic to people’s everyday life in the French Capital is the amount of fashion schools that opened in Paris the last 20 years. Except some of the big establishments, that were there forever and all the well-known designers that shaped fashion of last century studied there, like Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode or ESMOD most of the fashion schools of the city of Paris are franchises of international schools specialising in fashion.
Reflecting on my observations, Google trends data, and my friend's insights, it's clear that Paris's fashion scene is transitioning into a more globally influenced sphere, distinct from what it was just five years ago. Paris is moving towards a new, vibrant tapestry of global influences and individual expressions.
Hello Elisaveta,
Thank you so much for mentioning my story, it is an honour!
It is time for a big change of scenery! I am just waiting for new names and new brands to pop up that aren't what we usually see. I don't care about a Ludovic de Saint Sernin or Charles de Vilmorin all co-opted by the industry because of their name or social class. Again here, I wish to see more what you see in Paris street. To me Paris Fashion Week is very much linked to either LVMH and Kering or reviving some storied fashion house that doesn't need it. Also, there is no visibility given to new designers, and if there is, they talk about them for ten years (look at Jacquemus) as if they were still at their beginnings.
I never care this much for Paris Fashion Week exactly for the reason that to me it doesn't seem to evolve, yet it is still important because of LVMH and Kering, and the marketing machine around the city's history with art and fashion.