A Detailed Overview Of Paris Fashion Week 2021: All You Need To Know

Paris, apart from its unequaled cultural heritage, is also known as the birthplace of Haute couture. The capital of the fashion industry and home to many celebrated luxury brands and Haute Couture Maisons, Paris has never disappointed fashion lovers. The moment fashion, luxury, and extravagance are being talked about, the first name that comes to mind is - Paris Fashion Week.

The fashion capital is unstoppable

Even when the whole world is going head over heels and the global fashion industry is struggling without live fashion shows and red carpet events for more than 1.5 years due to the pandemic, the spirit of fashion is still alive. Fashion designers partaking in the Paris Fashion Week 2021 have left no stone unturned in organizing fashion shows to showcase their collections on the ramp. 

Paris Fashion Week 2021 - Save the dates!

Year	Category	Dates	Status
2021	Menswear	June 22 to June 27, 2021	Finished
2021	Haute Couture	July 5 to July 8, 2021	Finished
2021	Womenswear	September 27 to October 5, 2021	Scheduled
2022	Menswear	January 18 to January 23, 2022	Scheduled
2022	Haute Couture	January 24 to January 27, 2022	Scheduled
2022	Womenswear	February 28 to March 8, 2022	Scheduled
2022	Menswear	June 21 to June 28, 2022	Scheduled
2022	Haute Couture	July 3 to July 7, 2022	Scheduled
2022	Womenswear	September 26 to October 4, 2022	Scheduled

Autumn-winter 2021-22: Advocating the value of physical presentations!

Although many (around 24) fashion houses have opted for the digital runaways despite France easing social restrictions pertaining to the pandemic, the autumn-winter 2021-22 presentations underlined the importance of in-person fashion shows, the antidote for fashion houses to survive. It emphasized that designs have to be wearable and functional to prosper. 

Therefore, many noted fashion designers, international press, fashion connoisseurs, and buyers gathered to witness 33 luxury brands showcasing their collection on the physical runway.

Paris Fashion Week 2021: Digital vs. physical

Here is a glimpse to the participants of the physical and digital runways:

Brands that chose physical runways	Brands that chose online runways
Dior	Julien Fournié
Giorgio Armani Privé	Imane Ayissi
Chanel	Viktor & Rolf, to name a couple of them
Vaishali S
Balenciaga
Zuhair Murad
Jean Paul Gaultier
Pyer Moss, to name a few

In-person runway rivalries are the best

Digital fashion shows are undoubtedly cost-effective and need fewer efforts to pull off as compared to physical shows. Moreover, these have come up as a standard practice owing to the global health crisis. Most importantly, the entire fashion industry is wondering if the online runaways would become the new physical. 

However, nothing can outdo the charm and grandeur of the in-person runway rivalries. And, the City of Lights has proved it one more time.

The most iconic venues in the backdrop

For the fashion brands that showed physically, Paris felt like a runway expanding all over the city. Some of the most-loved venues included:

• Hôtel de la Marine at Place de la Concorde
• The La Samaritaine department store
• The Musée Rodin
• The Bourse de Commerce contemporary art museum

Chanel hosted their fashion show and a Gabrielle Chanel (the founder) retrospective at the Palais Galliera (Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris), a popular fashion museum. And such an iconic Parisian venue was itself a showstopper. 

The president of Chanel, Bruno Pavlovsky, told an esteemed fashion journal that all these successful fashion shows happening today strengthen the standing of Paris as the capital of fashion, luxury, and creativity.

The latest collection of Chanel was all about restoring the importance of haute couture post-pandemic restrictions. 

Good news for emerging designers

The FHCM (Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode) has started operating SPHERE since January 2020. SPHERE is a Paris Fashion Week showroom supported by L’Oréal Paris and LE DEFI. It is an integral part of the FHCM's calling to encourage and promote young and emerging designers.

It is a platform that brings together various brands owing to their development potential and creativity. In the latest season, the SPHERE was commenced at the Palais de Tokyo (June 23 to June 27, 2021). If you are looking for the digital version, it will also be available to you by invitation, supported by the Le New Black and Grand Shooting.

The Maisons include the following:

• Arturo Obegero
• Bluemarble
• Boramy Viguier
• Egonlab
• Louis-Gabriel Nouchi
• Mansour Martin
• Uniforme
• Valette Studio

Fashion that never goes out of fashion!

The Paris Fashion Week is unquestionably one of the most cherished moments etched on the fashion calendar. It is something that fashion lovers wait for. Although the pandemic has caused and still causing various impediments for the designers, both digital-first and physical presentations, finished and upcoming, show that nothing can stop Paris and its fashion designers from showcasing their skills and coming up with great designs to boast about.