Paris under the snow
April 05, 2005
My luggage in front of me, my ticket in my hand. I can see the hostess checking the boarding cards at the beginning of the queue. My plane outside, getting ready for take off… a slight smile on my face testimonies how frequent this scene has been lately. An imperceptible spasm of the eye is the sign of all the work I’ve left in the office…
Covered by snow, Paris welcomes me with a low temperature and the face of a dear friend, Jerome, who kindly hosted me in his home during my stay there and made me feel at ease as he always does with his kindness. After a good sleep, the following morning my first appointment is with Francine Pairon, fashion design course Responsible at the IFM (Institut Francais de la Mode), for a pleasant chat in a café about her students. IFM recently held (March 11) an exhibition to present their new generation of designers: 10 graduating students representing the school and coming from several countries around the world presented their works in a wonderful location, "Hall des Maréchaux" in the Museum of Fashion and Textile, in Rue de Rivoli. The outfits of the designers were fitted on mannequins all positioned on the steps of a huge stone staircase in the Hall, and over them a gigantic tilted mirror giving a totally new point of view as if the mannequins were laying on the floor, as if to say: "beware, what you see depends on where you’re looking at it!" Not only clothes but also accessories were exposed, and these also in a very interesting way: a wall completely covered by white neon lights and in front of it all of the designers’ accessories. The shoes, for example, were the result of a 2 month process in which the student followed all of the steps of the production, to clearly understand what is behind the development of accessories. The Presentation area was another pleasure for the eye. Instead of a normal buffet, Francine this year wanted something new, so she decided to put the buffet on the wall…and this is only the beginning! A group of chefs was requested to interpret the collection of every single designer in food. Every designer had his own frame with in it the food inspired to the chef by his collection: 10 designers, 10 frames, 10 different foods. On the wall. This is what I call being original!
Very important were the collaborations between the IFM designers and important fashion brands. 48 fashion houses like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Kookai, just to name a few, worked together with the students in all of the stages of the production of the outfits and accessories. With IFF (International Flavour & Fragrance) for example, each designer developed a fragrance that could describe their collection.
Another generation from FIA (Fashion Institute Arnhem). Nine designers known as the "New Dutch" whom I met under the snow in a showroom in Rue St, Honoré, headquarters from where they launched their "fashion anarchy statements". Apart from displaying their collections in the showroom, they cleverly thought of a more clandestine, original way of showing their works to the important personalities of the fashion world in Paris for the Paris Fashion Week: every one of them showcased their collections outside of the shows of, for example, Céline, Chanel, Galliano, Stella Mc Cartney, giving their cards to the stupefied people coming out of the tents of the shows. Joline Jolink, ITS#TWO finalist, was outside of Céline’s show with her collection, with the snow helping her out with the atmosphere. Well done guys! If you’re looking for visibility, you got to go out there and grab it! We can give you a hand also…
I have moments (it happens often when I’m jumping on and off planes around the world and my agenda is full of appointments…) when I wonder why on earth do I work so much and leave almost no time for myself…Caught in one of these moments while walking in Paris, I met Teppei (ITS#TWO finalist), and all of a sudden my doubts disappeared: it’s when I see what he has become, or when for example I hear Ajit (ITS#ONE finalist) in India telling me how the best thing that ITS# has given him is not material, but rather in terms of the confidence in himself and his own qualities, that my strength comes back and makes me go on my way. Together with Teppei, I went to meet Yoshikazu Yamagata, ITS#THREE finalist in Paris to present the exposition of the collection he had brought at ITS#THREE in an apartment in Rue Chabanais. Every piece of Yoshi’s collection, as those at ITS#THREE will remember, represents a story that can’t be separated from the outfit. In the apartment, every outfit was displayed to give the impression of entering a world halfway between a museum and an amusement park. You walk up the stairs, and a gigantic bra lies on the banister. You enter a room, and see a man inside a suitcase, or a homeless sleeping in his paper house with his jacket neatly hung outside. A pair of hands coming out of the chimney…In other words, it was not only an exposition of his clothes, but also a theatrical representation, a true experience for those who had a chance to see it. Really wonderful, just like Yoshi!
My last stop in Paris was for Kenzo’s show at "Le Carrousel du Louvre".
I’m not very used to going to fashion shows (apart from ITS#….), and I’m not a critic nor a journalist, so I won’t bore you with comments of that kind. What I can tell you is that what I look for is poetry, an emotion coming from within that makes you tremble. At Antonio Marras’ show I found it. I guess that says it all.
This is not all that happened in Paris: I also met Peter Pilotto (ITS#THREE finalist) at Maria Luisa’s boutique for the exposition of his clothes in Maria Luisa’s windows, but he will tell you about this in another article…
