Video may have killed the radio star, but on the reaction to the first ever digital Paris fashion week, the queens of the catwalk can breathe easy.
Forced online for the first time in its history by the coronavirus pandemic, brands both in haute couture and the Paris men’s fashion week presented videos of their collections instead.
Whle some had seen this as the advent of a long overdue opening up the cliquish salons of the fashion elite to the masses, the digital revolution has somewhat fallen flat.
“The runway can’t reopen for business soon enough,” quipped Bridget Foley of the industry bible Women’s Wear Daily, who like many felt the online shows — which end Monday — lack the buzz and razzamatazz of the real thing.
“Oh Lord, how pretentious are some of these film shorts,” she wrote. “This digital fashion week is making the live show model feel plenty relevant, and even essential.”
Front row fixture Diane Pernet was not impressed by the early offerings either.
“I am sorry, I think they can do more,” the Paris-based American critic and curator told AFP.
“I am all into digital, but it is not doing it for me,” she added.
But Laurent Coulier, head men’s buyer for top French department stores Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais, could see upsides.