The official Paris Fashion Week menswear show calendar was released on Monday. Many of the fashion houses have chosen not to hold physical fashion shows to showcase menswear. Likewise, many of the haute couture shows take place in digital versions. At the beginning of the year, the big return of physical events was still expected. However, the fifth wave is forcing the fashion houses and the participating guests to be patient a little longer.
Men’s fashion relies on digital alternatives
Most menswear brands have found it impossible or inappropriate to hold a fashion show as the number of infections with the omicron variant continues to soar. Instead, most of the labels opted for invitation-based presentations, in which the implementation of admission restrictions and thus maintaining a distance is easier to implement. Above all young and medium-sized labels chose this option, but also larger houses such as Ungaro, Isabel Marant or Agnès B.
Many of the larger houses have also decided to break free from the restrictions imposed by the pandemic by making their shows available not only to invited guests but also to the general public through live streaming. After the new digital solutions have proven themselves over the past two years, the hotels have decided to continue this format. The Louis Vuitton (two runway shows on the same day), Dior Hommes, Hermès, Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Kenzo shows will take place via physical shows. Overall, out of the 76 fashion houses that are on the official show calendar, 17 will host a physical fashion show, 29 will prefer the physical presentation and 30 will participate with a purely digital presentation.
Haute couture mostly chooses classic format
At the beginning of the week there was still indecision at the haute couture shows. Now the official show calendar has been published. Almost two-thirds of the 30 haute couture houses will present their collections as regular fashion shows.
The big couture houses like Chanel, Valentino, Fendi, Zuhair Murad, Jean Paul Gaultier and Stephane Rolland show their SS22 collections in classic physical form, supported by real-time live streams. The exceptions are Chanel, whose runway show is at 10 a.m. while the film does not air until 2 p.m., and Dior, which does not show a live stream. Many of the other houses rely on the digital format, in which guests are on site but watch a digital show instead of a physical one. Designers Rabih Kayrouz, Christophe Josse and Julien de Libran present the collections through digital presentations, while Georges Hobeika and Charles de Vilmorin rely on entirely digital formats that are only accessible online.
It is also worth mentioning that Paco Rabanne and Alaia position themselves between the two show calendars and present their ready-to-wear collections for women.
This translated and edited post previously appeared on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Karenita Haalck.