The Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion confirms that despite the constraints linked to the Olympics, Fashion Week will take place

A Paris Fashion Week has just ended, with media coverage and economic benefits for the city that are already being announced as excellent.

And another burst of fashion shows is being prepared, the men's collections, from June 18 to 23, followed by haute couture, from June 24 to 27.

The latter was brought forward by a week so as not to clash with the preparations for Paris 2024. While a number of events gave up taking place during this period, the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion held firm and worked in harmony. consultation with its members, administrations of all kinds and Cojo.

Meeting with its president, Bruno Pavlovsky (also president of Chanel's fashion activities), and its executive president, Pascal Morand.

LE FIGARO.

- How did you manage to maintain the good performance of the men's fashion and haute couture shows in June despite the constraints linked to the staging of the Olympic Games?

- Whatever the period in which it takes place, a fashion show requires a long preparation time and professional event teams.

Usually, Men's Fashion Week is held over six days for around forty shows, around thirty presentations, but also numerous events and showrooms on the sidelines.

Such a schedule involves issues of circulation between locations, security, space rental rates, etc.

However, the first conditions of preparation relating to the Olympic law initially excluded gatherings which were not linked to Paris 2024. It seemed paradoxical to us that, because Paris hosts this great popular sports festival, other events are impossible.

All economic and cultural activities cannot cease in the capital so many weeks before D-Day. This is why the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion anticipated these questions more than a year ago, and increased consultations with the Police Prefecture, the city of Paris, the Cojo, which coordinates the assembly phases, the interministerial delegation and the ministries of Culture and Sport.

In April 2023, we made the decision to maintain the men's fashion collections on the same dates and to bring forward haute couture by one week, that is to say from June 24 to 27, at the request of the Prefecture from police.

As a federation, we have a role as facilitator, and we want to show that the good performance of Fashion Week contributes to the influence of Paris and is essential during this period of the Olympic Games.

If some international players in Fashion Week had concerns about the good performance of the shows, we were able to reassure them, and already have confirmation from a large majority of men's fashion brands and haute couture houses.

What are the federation’s challenges for this edition?

We worked on five parameters: locations, traffic, hospitality, accessibility and security.

For the locations, we provided well in advance a list of 260 addresses where the parades and presentations of this period usually take place in order to identify those which would not be available this time.

We also warned brands that the deadlines for obtaining authorization to hold an event in a venue or outdoors were extended by one to two months.

At the same time, we have established a partnership with the Palais de Tokyo, which is used to hosting fashion shows and presentations and which, this time, will be able to host around thirty events at negotiated prices.

For traffic, we try to anticipate based on the information given to us.

But until June 30, which covers the period of our Fashion Weeks, it will be possible to travel more or less normally, even if we know that there will be impacts linked to the staging of the Games in Paris.

The same goes for the accessibility of our members' showrooms and boutiques, which depend on the traffic plan.

From a hospitality point of view, if hotel prices had tripled a few months ago, many rooms were returned by the organizers of the Olympic Games, which brought prices back down to a normal level.

Finally, regarding security, we have created a commission bringing together the security directors of the major houses, and we also work with production companies which are essential in the operation of Fashion Weeks.

We have published a guide to good practices for all brands so that they can ensure, for example, that the rooms correspond to the scale of their fashion show and the best possible control inside and outside. outside of these places.

Indeed, in recent seasons, we have observed a phenomenon of enthusiasm among young fans who gather in their hundreds around the parades to catch a glimpse of celebrities and especially K-pop stars, more and more of whom are invited during Fashion Week...

 Exactly.

However, if the big houses have the experience and the resources to manage this type of crowd, certain brands must take the full measure of what is involved in inviting a Korean celebrity, for example.

It's very nice to see all these fans sharing the energy of the parades, but we can't take any risks.

However, we know that, in June, the police forces will already be mobilized by the preparation of the Olympic Games, and that for brands it is a question of calling on private security services, in order to mark well and make respect safety zones.

Dries Van Noten men's show, in Paris, in January 2019. WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images

In recent weeks, in addition to Paris 2024, the federation has worked extensively on another task, that of its status...

B. P. - Indeed, the institutional reform of the bodies of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion has been unanimously validated of its members on December 18, 2023.

The history of these statutes dates back to 1868 with the creation of the Chambre syndicale de la couture, des confectioneurs et des tailors pour femmes et enfants, at the initiative of Charles Frederick Worth (

)!

Over the decades, the organization changed its name and grew in the 1970s thanks to the boom in ready-to-wear fashion designers and the emergence of designers.

To become in 2017, the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion, on which four legal entities depended.

Last year, the members of the federation's executive committee decided that the time had come to simplify its organization from a legal, administrative and accounting point of view.

It was not an easy task, but today we have achieved a single entity that endorses professional representation, until now devolved solely to the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture.

This simplified professional organization which covers haute couture, women's fashion and men's fashion is now in working order to address the major societal issues that present themselves to us.

We are increasingly contacted, whether by the French government or European institutions, on draft laws, particularly around sustainable development.

However, we must make our voice heard, that of a fashion focused on luxury and creation, so as not to be penalized by the collateral effects of legislation targeting “fast fashion”.

Today, in France, it is the implementation of the climate and resilience law with the question of displaying the environmental impact of products.

Tomorrow, there will be new European regulations on eco-design which, beyond fashion, prohibit the destruction of unsold items, as is already the case in France.

Which is a very good thing, but, in our case, it also prohibits us from recycling the fibers from these unsold items on the grounds that recycling would degrade their value.

We ensure the opposite.

We also have a major project, that of the traceability of leather and the issues surrounding breeding.

Fascinating and complex subject to which the federation is today very aware... To continue to exist with these new rules, we need the weight of brands and large groups, which are already taking up these subjects individually, but also that of of the federation, which represents our profession and now has a mandate to defend our values, our professions.