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Had you told us we’d be live streaming Virgine Viard’s couture collection for Chanel from the couch in sweats, or gulping in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino wonder from an iPhone, we would have laughed in your face. Watching the most prestigious – and historic – week in fashion via a screen? Ce n’est pas possible! But alas, here we are: Haute Couture Fashion Week is digital – and we can all watch its marvel from the comfort of our home.
READ: BACK TO SCHOOL. VIRGINIE VIARD REVISTS CHANEL’S MONASTIC PAST WITH A HAUTE TRIP TO THE CONVENT
While the future of fashion remains uncertain, Paris Couture Week is going ahead with a new digitised format. For the oldest week in the fashion calendar – and a week typically reserved for fashion’s upper echelon – it notches a mighty milestone in fashion’s history as we see a whole new world of couture unfurl (and hopefully a very exciting one at that).
From July 6 to July 8, couture houses will exhibit their collections in presentations on a digital platform — mostly in the form of livestreams, short films and digital lookbooks. As the Coronavirus pandemic has rocked the fashion industry to its core, even the very traditional narrative of couture has too fallen in its wake, with a historic shift in programming and scheduling.
“We’re now at the height of the digital revolution, which has only been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis. The digitisation of Fashion Week will never replace in-person events but it will largely enrich and amplify creative expression and communication,” said Pascal Morand, Executive President of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.
Schiaparelli opens the week at 10am (Paris time), while other couture mainstays such as Dior, Chanel, Valentino and Iris van Herpen will also be showcasing and no doubt, wowing. Absent from the schedule is Jean Paul Gaultier (who was set to debut an all-new couture model), Giorgio Armani Privé and the long-awaited return of Balenciaga’s couture division, all of whom have decided to wait until the original format next year (pending the pandemic, of course).
READ: SCHIAPARELLI STRIPS IT BACK – UNTIL IT REACHES ITS RAINBOW
“Each house will be represented in the form of a creative film/video. Additional content will be included in an editorialised section of the platform. All of this will be widely shared on the main international media networks,” said a spokesperson for Couture’s governing body.
To be part of the action, view the official schedule HERE. You can watch via this fashion portal on YouTube, plus on each designer’s respective social media channels.
And if you miss the shows (it’s a late call-time for us in the Southern Hemisphere), head to GRAZIA during the week for comprehensive, up-to-date couture coverage.
The future of fashion starts now.
