Changing of the guard at Paris Fashion Week

Fashion

Weisanto, Haute Couture Show AW25. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight

Paris - The young labels Weinsanto, CFCL and Vaquera open Paris Women's Fashion Week on Monday, kicking off a new edition that is still marked by the game of musical chairs between artistic directors.

This first day dedicated to the new guard will begin with the traditional parade of graduates of the French Fashion Institute, considered the most prestigious international couture design school.

"It's important to see emerging talents, their interpretation of art (...) It's always a good, energetic start to Fashion Week," Claire Thomson-Jonville, editorial director of Vogue France, told AFP.

The "completely crazy" show by Alsatian Victor Weinsanto, nicknamed the "Jacquemus of the East", and that of the Japanese brand CFCL (Clothing For Contemporary Life) will follow. The New York label Vaquera will close the day.

For nine days, more than 100 houses will unveil their autumn/winter 2025-2026 collections through 71 shows and 37 presentations. Still at the heart of rumours, Dior opens the show on Tuesday with what could be the last show of Maria Grazia Chiuri, the artistic director of the women's collections.

The Italian is rumoured to be leaving and could be replaced by Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson, currently head of the Spanish label Loewe, also owned by LVMH.

First steps

Another consequence of this great game of musical chairs is that Chanel will present on Tuesday, March 11, the last day of this fashion week, a new collection designed by the design studio.

Appointed artistic director in December, the discreet and highly respected Matthieu Blazy will not present a collection before September. Among the most anticipated events are also the debuts of Sarah Burton at Givenchy on Friday, Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten on Wednesday and Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford, who is showing for the first time in Paris on the same day. The American label had until now been accustomed to New York.

The Alaïa house will also make its first official appearance in the Parisian calendar on Tuesday. The luxury heavyweights - Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga - will of course also be there, as will the new guard with shows by Marine Serre, Ludovic de Saint-Sernin and Coperni.

Also noteworthy are the arrivals of Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson, who won the LVMH prize last year, and French designer Alain Paul. "Paris is one of the only Fashion Weeks that has a lot of young designers, right up to very big institutional brands and designers who are already well established," summarises Alix Morabito, women's fashion buying director at Galeries Lafayette.(AFP)

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.FR. It was translated to English using AI.

FW25

Paris Fashion Week

PFW