The Paris Fashion Week program is packed with new names, welcome comebacks and big debuts

Paris Fashion Week will take over from New York, London and Milan on Monday, February 26, with a delicious program.

Highlights of the week dedicated to women's ready-to-wear collections for Fall/Winter 2024-25 will include the inaugural runway shows by CFCL and Zomer, grand returns by Vetements, Lacoste, Off-White, Lutz Huelle, Marine Serre and Ester Manas. and debut collections from a host of new creative directors, at Chloé, Rochas and Alexander McQueen. Plus, of course, a host of gala evenings and special events.

The next Paris Women's Fashion Week is scheduled from February 26 to March 5 and will feature 71 shows and 38 presentations from 109 brands in total. The collective show by students of the French Institute of Fashion (IFM) will begin on Monday afternoon, followed by Belgian designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt, New York duo Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee with their brand Vaquera, and CFCL ( Clothing for contemporary life).

The latter was founded in 2020 by Japanese designer Yusuke Takahashi, a former collaborator of Issey Miyake, and will present its first fashion show in the Paris calendar. The same goes for Zomer, which will close the week on Tuesday, March 5. Characterized by a joyfully experimental style, Zomer was founded in 2023 by the Dutch design duo of Danial Aitouganov (formerly of Burberry and Chloé) and Imruh. Asha, who worked for Moschino, Pucci and Jacquemus, before being named fashion director of Dazed magazine in 2021.

The spotlight will also be on two highly anticipated premieres. On Thursday, February 29, the German designer Chemena Kamali will present her first show for Chloé, replacing Gabriela Hearst, and on Saturday, March 2, it will be the turn of Seán McGirr, who takes over from Alexander McQueen's second. he commands Sarah Burton. The latter left the brand after 14 years at the helm, following the death of the brilliant British designer in 2010.

Another unmissable event is the beginning of a new stage for Rochas, under the auspices of the Italian designer Alessandro Vigilante, who will present his first collection for the Parisian brand with a presentation on Wednesday, February 28. Also on the presentation calendar, the return events of Irish designer Róisín Pierce and Chinese brand Chen Peng, along with two new names, Italian designer Gabriele Colangelo and South African designer Laduma Ngxokolo with his knitwear brand MaXhosa Africa.

Charles de Vilmorin, who left Rochas last year, will return to Paris Fashion Week to present his first ready-to-wear collection in the Sphère showroom, managed by the French Federation of Fashion and Haute Couture (FHCM) with the DEFI support. Sphère will be presented from February 28 to March 5 at the Palais de Tokyo and will also include Alphonse Maitrepierre, Antwerp designer Florentina Leitner, French designer Lucille Thièvre, China's Di Du with her brand Didu and the French-Canadian duo Paolina Russo and Lucile. Gilmard.

Paris Fashion Week will, as usual, showcase the collections of luxury giants such as Christian Dior, Saint Laurent, Balmain, Hermès, Balenciaga, Chanel, Valentino and Louis Vuitton, as well as those of several brands returning to the capital French this season. The first is Ester Manas, who will present her comeback show on Tuesday, February 27, after a hiatus during which she won the special prize of the ANDAM contest in 2023. Off-White will return on February 29 and on March 1 will do. the turn of Vetements, headed by Guram Gvasalia.

On Monday, March 4, Marine Serre will return to Paris women's fashion week, having recently appeared on the men's calendar. On March 5, Lacoste will return to the Parisian catwalks, after withdrawing from it a year ago following the departure of creative director Louise Trotter, now at Carven, replaced by Pelagia Kolotouros.

In a surprise twist, Lutz Huelle will also return to the runway in a big way on March 4, helped by AZ Factory, with which he began collaborating in October 2022. The brand owned by the Swiss group Richemont, for which Huelle designed three collections, he's gone. The space is for the German designer and will not be shown. AZ Factory said that, “as an incubator for talented independent designers,” it has decided to help Huelle by funding his show. Huelle worked in particular for Martin Margiela and exhibited in Paris since 2000 after creating his own label, although the pandemic forced him to withdraw from the calendar in March 2020.

In addition to AZ Factory, three other brands have withdrawn from the Paris calendar: Marni, now back in Milan, Peter Do and Maison Margiela, which showed at haute couture week in January. However, Paris remains the undisputed fashion capital of the world, as evidenced by the endless list of showrooms and events planned during fashion week by a host of international design organisations.

Among them, the Chinese brands present at the Shenzhen Futian Fashion Day on February 26; the HKFG project organized by the Fashion Farm Foundation on February 27; the showroom promoted by the Indonesian government through the Talent Indonesia incubator program, on March 1; the March 2 presentation of a collective of Serbian designers for Serbian Fashion Week; and the evening dedicated to K fashion on March 4, featuring three Korean brands endorsed by the Council of Korean Fashion Designers.

Finally, a variety of highly anticipated cocktail parties, gala events and trade shows will liven up the week. Among them, the gala evening organized by ANDAM and Première Classe to celebrate their 35th anniversary on February 29 at Maxim's; that same night, the opening party for the Tranoï show with Creative Africa Nexus; and the opening of a new Issey Miyake store the next day.