In the month leading up to the Fall-Winter shows in Paris, it was widely believed that the event would mark a significant return to business as usual — a celebration for the fashion world after two years of pandemic-related disruptions. Coronavirus cases were relatively low, international travel to and from France had opened up and more brands were scheduled to stage physical instead of virtual shows.
Ralph Toledano, president of Paris Fashion Week’s organizing body, the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), issued a statement on March 1 urging attendees of the event to “experience the shows of the coming days with solemnity, and in reflection of these dark hours.”
Speaking a week later, after fashion week had wrapped, Toledano told CNN that on the Sunday night before the first day of shows, he had two clashing images in his mind. On the one side, the excitement of fashion week’s return with live runways unhampered by the pandemic. On the other, images of war and “a country being attacked in a very cruel and savage way… and people dying, and people suffering.”
Simply put, a glitzy week of shows, parties and celebrity cameos was at complete odds with a war in Europe.
In direct acknowledgment of this tension, the mononymous creative director of luxury house Balenciaga, Demna, issued a statement ahead of his collection reveal, which took place during the second half of the week. “Fashion feels like some sort of absurdity,” he wrote in a note to guests, adding that he had considered canceling the event altogether.
“The…
Source : cnn
