Paris Men's Fashion Week interrupted by preparations for the Olympic Games

After Milan, it is Paris' turn to host the Fashion Week marathon starting Tuesday, under peculiar circumstances. In fact, Paris Men's Fashion Week will be held on the eve of the Olympic Games, which will take over the French capital from July 26 to August 11. In other words, a big headache in terms of logistics, traffic and security. However, despite several withdrawals, most leading brands appear on the show. The main protagonists are the Dries Van Noten farewell show on Saturday June 22 and the Vogue World event “celebrating 100 years of fashion and sport”, which will be held in Place Vendôme on the afternoon of June 23, just before the Haute Couture Week, scheduled until June 27.

Preparation work for the Games facilities means that several emblematic entertainment venues, such as the Place de la Concorde, the Trocadéro, the Grand Palais and the Alexander III Bridge, are completely or partially closed. The organization of men's fashion week, scheduled for June 18-23, has required a lot of advance planning to make travel between shows as easy as possible for all concerned.

Traffic conditions are the main unknown of fashion week. Some labels, along with their show invitations, have sent very detailed instructions on how to get to their venues. But the situation has discouraged many designers, especially emerging ones. In total, 72 brands will show their Spring/Summer 2025 collections, through 35 presentations and 37 shows, compared to 41 shows in January.

Among the latter, the most anticipated is the Dries Van Noten show, scheduled for Saturday night in La Courneuve, the same town in the Seine-Saint-Denis neighborhood where the brand organized a memorable dinner-event to celebrate its 50th parade in October 2004. The flamenco designer, who just turned 66, announced in March that he would step down as creative director of his eponymous brand, founded in Antwerp in 1986. The brand was bought by the Spanish group Puig in 2018 and will continue under a new creative. director who will be announced “at the appropriate time.” Dries Van Noten has exhibited in Paris since 1993.

Of course, all the major luxury brands are on the program, starting with Louis Vuitton, which will begin on Tuesday with the highly anticipated new Pharrell Williams show. A year after his successful debut at the Pont Neuf, the American rapper hopes to repeat his performance, this time at the UNESCO headquarters. Also on the program, as always, Kenzo on Wednesday the 19th, Rick Owens and AMI Paris on Thursday the 20th, Dior Homme on Friday the 21st and Hermès and Loewe on Saturday the 22nd.

Alongside the heavyweights, there will be the usual full lineup of Japanese designers: Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe Man, Sacai, Kolor, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro, White Mountaineering, Auralee, Doublet and Taakk, plus Undercover by Jun Takahashi, finally back on the Parisian men's catwalks after leaving the calendar during the pandemic.

British designer Bianca Saunders, absent from Paris for the past few seasons, also returns. Saunders, winner of the ANDAM award in 2021 and recently awarded the BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund 2024, is supported by the French haute couture federation, which selected her for the Sphère showroom, dedicated to emerging designers. Hed Mayner, who sat out in January, will also return.

The 032c brand, launched in 2016 by designer Maria Koch for the Berlin fashion store of the same name, will make its debut in Paris on Thursday. The 3.Paradis brand by Emeric Tchatchoua will be present in the official presentation calendar in the Sphère showroom.

However, these three comebacks and a new name only partially compensate for the nine absences this season. The first of them is Balmain, which returned to the men's calendar in January after many years. Balmain was initially on the program, but canceled the show at the last minute, opting to present his collection in September.

Valentino, in the midst of a creative transition after the departure of Pierpaolo Piccioli, has also decided to wait until September to present the first collection of the new creative director Alessandro Michele. Givenchy, without a creative director after the departure of Matthew Williams, is also missing this season.

Rising prices and complications arising from preparations and construction of facilities for the Olympic Games have also deterred several smaller brands and emerging designers from participating. Many buyers, especially Asians, have said they will not travel to Paris and some record labels have decided not to invest in a salon. Like Botter, EgonLab, Officine Générale and Winnie, who have opted for presentations, while GmbH decided to exhibit in Berlin.

Paul Smith chose to appear in Florence, as guest designer of the 106th edition of the Pitti Uomo men's show, which ended a few days ago. So did Marine Serre, who put on an eye-catching show in the Florentine countryside. Finally, brands such as Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Koché and Etudes Studio, which were not at Paris Fashion Week in January, will also not return to the catwalks this season, some of them opting for a presentation format.

However, the week will not be less intense, since several catwalks have been scheduled outside the official calendar, in addition to showrooms and trade fairs. There will also be plenty of parties, store openings, cocktail parties and other events, such as the one organized by Aigle with Sarah Andelman, or by Ephemera, which is becoming a permanent fashion library, and the Fursac exhibition with the artist Lionel Estève. The week will also be packed with after-parties and gala evenings, such as the garden party hosted by Paul Smith and, to top it all off, the Vogue World: Paris event.