The house has put plans to show at Paris Fashion Week on hold for 2020 and will set its own calendar going forward – “legitimating the value of time and connecting with people globally by getting closer” post-pandemic
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the future of fashion week as we now know it has become increasingly uncertain. Last month, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode in Paris announced the cancellation of its men’s and couture weeks in June; while in London, the British Fashion Council announced that its own June men’s week would become gender neutral and take place online.
These announcements came amid a growing feeling that the traditional fashion week schedule was no longer fit for purpose – with particular questions about the sustainability of travelling from city to city several times a year. In a recent interview with American Vogue, the creative director of Gucci, Alessandro Michele, stressed that the pandemic has revealed an industry, and world, at tipping point. “Some friends keep asking me: When will we go back to ‘normal’? I hope we will never go back to that ‘normal’,” he told the magazine this weekend. “Because the life we lived before has been fearfully unsustainable. So, yes, we will go back to life. But, I hope, to a different life.”
In an announcement today, Saint Laurent has joined this call for change by pausing the collections it was set to show as part of the 2020 fashion week schedule. “Conscious of the current circumstance and its waves of radical change, Saint Laurent has decided to take control of its pace and reshape its schedule,” the house announced via Instagram. “With this strategy firmly in place, Saint Laurent will not present its collections in any of the pre-set schedules of 2020. Saint Laurent will take ownership of its calendar and launch its collections following a plan conceived with an up-to-date perspective, driven by creativity.”
“Now more than ever, the brand will lead its own rhythm,” it continued, “legitimating the value of time and connecting with people globally by getting closer to them in their own space and lives.” The announcement was met with praise by the account’s followers.
It begs the question – particularly as Saint Laurent is one of Paris’ most prestigious houses, and an intrinsic part of the Paris Fashion Week schedule – whether other brands who show in Paris, and indeed around the world, will now follow suit.
