The City of Light is raising its game for show season.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been a major backer of the fashion industry since taking office in March, and now her support is visible on the Champs-Élysées.
Banners bearing the slogan “La Mode Aime Paris” (“Fashion Loves Paris”) are being displayed all along the famous avenue through Oct. 5. (The campaign, featuring a Vanessa Seward black dress with clovers, is also promoted throughout the French capital.)
“Fashion will always be at home in the city where it was born. It’s in Paris that the history of fashion will continue to be written,” said Hidalgo, who revealed in March that Paris would invest some 60 million euros ($67 million at current exchange) in the fashion industry between now and 2020.
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Among her flurry of initiatives is to illuminate the Eiffel Tower every night between Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 with the fashion week slogan — Hidalgo is slated to throw the switch from the Palais de Chaillot on Sept. 30.
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For the first time, the mayor’s office is partnering with the Fédération Française de la couture du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode for Nuit Blanche, an annual free contemporary arts festival held for one night. This year, it will take place on Oct. 3 starting at 7 p.m. and run until dawn on Oct. 4. About 30 international artists will participate.
On Oct. 6, she will welcome designers, buyers and press to an evening reception at Paris City Hall that’s cohosted by Ralph Toledano, president of the Fédération Française and Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the Chambre Syndicale.
City Hall will also be the set for the Yohji Yamamoto show on Oct. 2. It’s understood that Hidalgo, who has been spotted front row at runway shows in the past, including Lanvin, plans to attend Chanel on Oct. 6.
City Hall also has an exhibition, “Le Dressing de Rêve des Parisiens” (“The Parisians’ Dream Dressing Room”) that is accessible through the 29 Rue de Rivoli entrance. Curators Régis Pennel, the founder of concept store L’Exception, and Philippe Zorzetto, whose flagship is at 106 Rue Vieille du Temple, will feature 50 Paris-based fashion labels including Andrea Crews, Commune de Paris and Melinda Gloss. The show runs until the end of October.
The city’s fashion schools also will be open to the public during fashion week. These include École Duperré, which remains a public institution and whose alumni include Bouchra Jarrar and Christine Phung, and Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, whose graduates include Yves Saint Laurent and Alexis Mabille.
Both schools will be showcasing their students’ work.
La Fabrique, meanwhile, is to host on Oct. 1 a panel discussion on the evolution of fashion.
