Paris Fashion Week, the last of the “big four,” begins today following three weeks of unprecedented fashion events in New York, London and Milan as the global pandemic wears on.
During a fashion month like no other, the Spring-Summer 2021 shows have been a mixed bag in a number of ways, but format has by far been the biggest variable. In New York and London, designers leaned on the power of technology to share their collections with the world, favoring — or succumbing to — livestreamed presentations and pre-filmed videos instead of physical runway shows in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Milan’s fashion week offered a more balanced mix of formats and in Paris, well, it appears as though the fashion industry has decided that the show must go on despite the rise in coronavirus case numbers. Many fashion houses have chosen to stage physical events, albeit with a fraction of the usual number of invited guests.
Dior, Kenzo, Chloé, Balmain, Yohji Yamamoto, Hermès, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are some of the houses planning to stage physical shows throughout the week.