PARIS — With August’s hot spell finally receding, it’s Paris Fashion Week that is heating up with the publication of the provisional schedule by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode on Monday.
Slated to run Sept. 25 to Oct. 3, the spring 2024 season in Paris will feature 67 runway shows and 41 presentations, all relayed digitally through the federation’s web site.
Among the highlights of the season is Marni’s first Parisian show, a continuation of the brand’s series of itinerant shows that started in New York in September 2022, said its chief executive officer Barbara Calò.
The show will be held on Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m.
“Traveling the world allowed an intimate dialogue with our audience of friends and customers, in line with the objective that we have defined at the beginning of this journey,” she said, noting that the previous iterations “showcased Marni’s current vision in the world and upon the world,” an initiative that was “appreciated by the creative community surrounding the brand.”
In a statement sent to WWD, creative director Francesco Risso described the brand’s ongoing traveling showcases as “a dérive that found us under a bridge in Brooklyn last fall, a paper colosseum in Japan this February; but which started in 2020, when we couldn’t leave our homes at all, but had to leave behind the way we thought about fashion shows forever.
“These departures were never about a destination — so if this season is something of a return — it is not to where we started,” he continued, calling Paris “a city well suited to flaneurs like us.”
The nine-day schedule will also see the return of Mugler, Maison Margiela and Carven, as well as Casablanca and Kiko Kostadinov switching over to the women’s calendar.
Eager to seize the cultural moment and support its burgeoning international business, Mugler will be back onto the Paris schedule with a show on Oct. 2 at 6 p.m., easing up on the see now, buy now strategy it had pursued in recent years, followed by Maison Margiela’s 7:30 p.m. show.
Returning to the Parisian runway after a five-year absence, Carven will be unveiling the first collection of creative director Louise Trotter at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 30. The British designer was named to the position in February after wrapping up a four-year stint at Lacoste.
The French label, now under the umbrella of the ICCF Group which also owns Chinese label Icicle, reopened its flagship store in its original Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées location in 2021.
After making her debut off-schedule last season, Belgian designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt will be opening the spring 2024 season at 4 p.m. on Sept. 25 as part of the official calendar.
The luxury cornerstones of the Parisian schedule will keep to their traditional slots, with Saint Laurent on Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.; Balmain the following day also at 8 p.m.; Stella McCartney and Louis Vuitton on Oct. 3 at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively; and Chanel and Miu Miu on the final day, at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. respectively.
Also making their Parisian debut this season are New York-based Peter Do and Dutch designer Duran Lantink, who made a name for himself with his upcycled patchworking of different designer items and was one of this year’s ANDAM Prize winners.
Their shows be at 10 a.m. on Sept. 26 for Do and at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 for Lantink.
Shanghai- and New York-based designer Caroline Hu, Australian designer Christopher Esber, Spanish label Paloma Wool and 2023 LVMH Prize finalist Quira, designed by Veronica Leoni, will be staging their first on-schedule presentations for spring 2024.
Also returning this season to presentations are South Korean designer Kiminite Kimhekim and French outerwear specialist Aigle, designed by the Etudes trio of Aurélien Arbet, Jérémie Égry and José Lamali.
Absent from this season’s lineup is Ester Manas. The brand is “taking this unique opportunity to capitalize on the momentum generated by a special year of milestones, including collaborations and awards,” which included an ANDAM prize, said Manas and partner Balthazar Delepierre in a statement. They plan to “consolidate our strengths and channel our creative energies into a new and expanded collection for March 2024.”
The final version of the calendar is expected the week of Sept. 11, according to the French fashion federation.