While traditional parades have been cancelled, haute couture houses are doubling down on their inventiveness to attract shoppers and influencers along the way
While traditional parades have been cancelled, haute couture fashion houses are doubling down on their inventiveness to attract shoppers and influencers through screens.
There are no photographers, no surreal scenery and no podium. This year, the must-see Paris fashion week also had to adapt to restrictions related to the sars coronavirus pandemic. From this Monday, big fashion houses present their collections on the Internet: professionals from the sector, potential clients and well-known “guests of the first order” – traditionally hand-picked. to fashion shows next to the screen.
A challenge for the creators, who could not guess this term necessary for the image of their brand and the presentation of new collections. The artistic directors seem to be inspired: with famous directors, scenography down to the millimeter, virtual showrooms… While the industry suffered greatly from the restrictions associated with the closure, all the details were considered to compensate for the loss of parades called “classics”.
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“For the represented houses, regardless of their size or age, there is a problem of mixed creation and communication,” points out The Express, the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion (FHCM), which oversees this event digitally. “We wanted to keep the rock, with the principle of international openness, togetherness and creativity”, it was stated.
“fashion week, this is not a parade,” deciphers Thomas Delattre, a professor at the Institute de la mode de Paris. “It’s mainly about the professional tools, the controls that are in the show-rooms after the fashion show and everything they have around them: who comes, what they wear, the way they communicate about the event… All of this determines what we will remember from the collection”, he recalls.
“media influence”
Dior understood: without the possibility of a traditional parade, there was a need to find new ways to attract customers. This Monday at 2:30 p.m., customers and simply curious people could discover the new collection of the prestigious fashion house in an interactive way. Like all trademarks registered by FHCM, Dior was able to present its new collection in a video of approximately fifteen minutes, broadcast on a dedicated platform. In the production of the dream, which is signed by Matteo Garrone (directors of Dogman and Gomorrah), a dozen dresses worn by mannequins with the appearance of nymphs are well captured.
A day earlier, the French luxury house Hermès presented its side of its men’s collection, in an artistic performance recorded in real time, in which viewers could see the designer Véronique Nichanian and the models, but also the cameramen, commitment and enthusiasm. , and technicians. Filmed by theater director Cyril Teste, the performance has only 18 looks, compared to a quarantine of passages for a parade classic. “But the media impact is at least as important as the creative delivery. The fact that this presentation remains a phenomenon, an event in itself, is important,” Sophie Lemahieu, a teacher and researcher in the field of fashion history at the École du Louvre, tells The Express.
For her, grades must now show that she can adapt to all situations. Mixing traditional codes and new technologies, they “manage to seduce their audience as usual, and talk about their shows on social networks”. Despite the presentation of digital collections, Dior had to send “invitations, paper, graphic, perfect, personalities usually invited to the parade”, illustrates the researcher. “Brands continue to mobilize these people who communicate for them, and that makes all the interest of fashion week,” he insists.
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A detail that should not be left to chance,” adds Thomas Delattre. While the mere presentation of new pieces, through a parade, was the most important part of this appointment a few years ago, “the ‘B to C’ dimension is “What makes this fashion week, that are the people who come to the parade, what they write on social networks, their analysis… All this needs to be compensated, to succeed in bringing life to the parade”.
“brands need to show they’re still around”
The challenge is to size: for Sophie Lemahieu, the economic implications of the coronavirus for high fashion houses are not anecdotal. “Apart from the cancellation of parades, where, for example, the brand is discussed and the sales of fragrances are strengthened, all the events in which haute couture is traditionally present have been canceled in recent months,” she says. “Brands have to show that they are still around and that the public can trust them. They are solid, they prefer their knowledge and experience and they emphasize their masters.”
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in an attempt to “give life” to parades presented virtually on the Internet, brands are also creative, and no longer hesitate to reveal behind the scenes of their shows, the secret production of their parts or interviews of their designers. “They no longer have a choice: after the closure, we want transparency, to be in the truth. It’s a good opportunity for brands to reveal all that and communicate through podcasts, interviews and backstage footage,” says Thomas Delattre.
“We expect these brands to be the most creative”
In an artistic landscape “atomized” by the emergence of new brands, foreign creators and online sales, “we expect these big names, identified as the most creative, to be the most original in their way of addressing their collections to consumers, to use digital, to convey their creative vision”, emphasizes the expert. This fashion week seems to be the best laboratory to experiment with these new tools. “Ideas abound, some things are particularly interesting, and could even be included in a context outside of Covid,” says Sophie Lemahieu.
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points are given towards the end of shows called “classic”? There is no way, answers the fashion history researcher. “As soon as they can continue with the shows, they will. The Internet could become just a complementary tool,” she says, recalling the importance of the topic and the sensitivity of the garment. “I couldn’t imagine that such know-how could be completely absorbed by the screen or that the show induced by the parade of a high fashion house could disappear,” the expert points out.
Date of update: July 7, 2020, 02:58
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn