As Paris Fashion Week kicks into high gear on Tuesday, around half the brands on the official calendar are edging back toward normality by staging physical shows and presentations.
But in a landscape revolutionized by the coronavirus pandemic, and with a large chunk of the front row missing, the most successful will be those who manage to amplify their events digitally.
WWD spoke with brand advisers and strategic consultants on how to achieve maximum impact online. They agreed that while influencers will continue to play a key role, brands must extend their reach to different cultural personalities and bring their fashion shows to platforms across fields as varied as gaming and music.
That may seem ambitious at a time when some houses are still wondering whether their shows will go ahead as planned, given the recent tightening of official measures to contain a renewed flareup of coronavirus in Paris and other parts of France.
The new rules include a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people in public parks, though Dior and Koché said their shows on Tuesday — to be staged in the Tuileries Garden and the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, respectively — had been approved by local authorities and would go ahead as planned.
Ralph Toledano, president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, said French fashion’s governing body has worked closely with health officials, Paris City Hall and the city’s police to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.
“Safety is our first priority,” he said. “In addition to the government guidelines, the federation has established a detailed safety protocol for Paris Fashion Week to be shared by all the participants. Every house has prepared a plan B in case of necessity. But, anyway, the federation’s online platform is inclusive and can welcome any format.”
Paris Fashion Week, which runs until Oct. 6, has the most ambitious physical program of the season so far. But the fast-changing health situation, which prompted Versace to switch its planned physical show with guests at Milan Fashion Week to a livestream, means that brands will by necessity be straddling the physical and digital worlds.
The event features 84 labels in total with roughly 20 physical fashion shows — including Dior, Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Chloé and Balmain — and 20 live presentations, by the federation’s count. The remainder will be showing their collections digitally via the online platform parisfashionweek.fhcm.paris.
“It is an unusual season indeed, and we keep on innovating,” Toledano said. “We have set a coherent framework respecting the rhythm of the official calendar and the format selected by each participant.”
The site, developed with data research and insights company Launchmetrics, has been fine-tuned based on the results of the first men’s and haute couture digital fashion weeks in July.
“Globally speaking, we have developed our competence and expertise in the digital area and reinforced our relationships with brands. Paris stood up again as the world capital for fashion, creativity and diversity,” Toledano said.
“Our July platforms have been perceived as functional and practical. We have stuck with the same principle and brought incremental innovations such as for digital design, the highlighting of the homepage and a facilitated circulation between the different parts of the platform,” he added.