PARIS, 9/25 — Hello, just hello, no fake French today. Despite the obstacles and sundry banalities of international air travel, I made it to the French capital Wednesday morning. That I also managed to make it to the Gareth Pugh Spring 2014 show, produce a video, eat one warm meal and make it to bed before 03h00 on Thursday is no mean feat!
It needn’t even be mentioned that the prêt-à-porter shows in Paris are something special. The storied houses, the collections, the venues, the productions, all are distinctive in every regard and that Paris Fashion Week commands something like 37 full days of the international fashion calendar speaks to this very fact. This week needs space to unfurl its illustrious self — just thank your lucky stars lesser fashion weeks are not granted the same scheduling berth!
After settling into my hotel in the 9th arrondissement I skipped street traffic and took the Metro to Palais de Tokyo in the fashionable 16th arrondissement. Paris is divided into 20 such units and each of them have their own histories and connotations not wholly unlike, say, the Upper East Side and Crown Heights in New York.
Palais de Tokyo itself presented a rather sumptuous vista on a fire escape-cum-deck just off the back of hair and makeup at the venue. Walk through the chaotic backstage, up a few steps, out a door and it hits you, the Eiffel Tower. Bloody hell, even I could not resist the charms of this city and duly snapped the photo that thousands must have done previously at shows staged at Palais de Tokyo.
In the afternoon, Gareth Pugh was showing his Spring 2014 collection and Elisabeth Erm (above) was walking in the show. It was my first time covering the show and I was thrilled to have an opportunity to see the precocious designer’s work up close. I wasn’t the only one keen to get a look, Rick Owens and his wife and long-time collaborator, Michèle Lamy, were also backstage. The collection celebrated clean lines, angles and tailoring, and for all critical grumbling, merited or otherwise, about the English designer’s penchant for the theatrical, much of the collection looked elegantly wearable.
The show itself had a square runway, which made for a simple, unfussy show. The clothes spoke most loudly. If shows continue in this manner, then I reckon I too can get used Fashion Week in Paris. That was it for me on what was the first day in what will surely be a momentously busy week in Paris.
Follow Damien behind-the-scenes at Paris Fashion Week:
All images courtesy Instagram/WilhelminaModels
