The city of Paris is a fashion institution. It is headquarters to the world's largest peak organisation for fashion, the 'Fédération française de la couture', which administers fashion events, product quality control, and the the use of the term 'haute couture'. It is one of the four main centres of fashion media, alongside London, Milan, and New York. It is home to the indomitable LVMH, a fashion and luxury products conglomerate which manages some of the most recognisable fashion brands. For these reasons many of the world's emerging designers want to promote and sell new collections in Paris. But what opportunities exist for designers who cannot achieve an official catwalk parade? And if you are a buyer, where can you find some new designs? There are several venues. The ancillary trade fairs and show rooms open during fashion week, as well as permanent show rooms and boutiques which feature young designers. And then there are the pop up events where designers court attention in novel ways. In this report I examine some of the alternative venues where you can come across innovative new designs in Paris.
THE TRADE SHOW
During fashion week you can find several satellite trade shows where groups of designers display their products. During the last Prêt-à-Porter fashion week in October 2009, the most popular trade shows were Tranoi and Rendez-Vous. An emerging designer can benefit from the promotional and marketing work organised by the trade show, including websites, calenders, and posters. And they are well established in the minds and on the maps of buyers.
The format works particularly well if you are a colourful brand with a novel product, whether you are already based in France or coming from abroad. Andrea Crews is a Paris fashion collective lead by Maroussia Rebecq composed of stylists, designers, musicians, video directors and performers. They showed a small collection at Rendez-Vous, alongside documentation of art and fashion performance projects. Rebecq claims they were promoting 'spirit and collections' at Rendez-Vous, in order 'to meet more buyers'. American sisters Dannijo were showing their jewellery in Paris for the second time in 2009, after first appearing in February 2009. And Swedish brand Happy Socks were also showing for their second time at Rendez-Vous. As Love di Marco explains, this relatively new brand, established in 2008, formed itself in reaction to 'the boredom a grey Swedish Sunday can bring'. Their bright and colourful socks designs were a knockout on the stands. According to Love di Marco, 'We are on a mission to turn the wardrobes forgotten accessory, the sock, into something beautiful and interesting'. THE SHOWROOM
However, for designers whose work is more minimal, less theatrical or using fewer happy colours, the trade show environment may be less appealing. An individual collection can get lost in the activity. According to Hamburg fashion designer Philippa Lindenthal, the trade fairs can be very busy and crowded, and there is not always space to properly exhibit designs. She preferred to show her collection at TENT showroom. 'Sometimes at the trade shows you have limited room. And in this showroom it was much more spacious'.
Over on 33 Rue Charlot, proprietor Darren de Hayes established Tent Showroom to 'to fill a gap between the huge trade fairs and commercial agents'. Tent showroom stages sales campaigns for fashion professionals to coincide with the various fashion fairs and exhibition weeks. De Hayes is approached by individual designers wishing to exhibit in his showroom and also researches the internet and fashion blogs to find designers which resemble his taste for 'restrained elegance'. He exhibits only independent designers and no more than nine at a time to provide a different kind of retail experience to the more frantic trade show.
The showroom may be the perfect setting for a group. For example, designer from a small city such as Hamburg may exhibit together in a showroom, occasionally with support from a local state or trade council. 'In the beginning there was a women from the Hamburg boutique Sleeping Dogs, and she had the idea that a group of designers from Hamburg should join together and rent a gallery and do their own show in Marais', says Lindenthal. 'But it was too short notice. So in the end it was not the whole group that went to Paris because we didn't have alot of time to organise everything. And it was therefore easier to rent space together in a showroom. Three designers from Hamburg showed at Tent Showroom'.
However there are limitations to this forum. Rendez-Vous can produce publicity material and marketing on behalf of all exhibiting designers. And buyers with little time often prefer the convenience of the trade show. I think the buyers may only have one or two days in Paris so they just pick one trade show. And so many buyers go to Tranoi,' says Lindenthal. But the experience of exhibiting in Paris was worthwhile. 'It was great to show the collection in Paris and there were some contacts that came from that. I think it was good to do it but it is a long way and a small label. If you are in a showroom and the buyers don't have much time then they go to the trade show and they don't necessarily have time to look properly at every design. But it was worth it. Next time I would prefer to go to a trade show for marketing and promotion. But as soon as I have enough contacts I go back again to a show room'.
THE BOUTIQUES
Another important place to find the niche designers is the local boutiques. For example, from the labels showing at Rendez-Vous, Dannijo can be found at Frank et Fils, Happy Socks sell at Le Bon Marché Femme, No-good store and Royal Cheese, and Andrea Crews sell at concept store Colette.
Colette was established in March 1997 at 213 rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. It is a family business owned by mother Colette and her daughter Sarah. This three story exhibition space designed by Masamichi Katayama and Wonderwall trades in clothes, jewellery, CDs and DVDs, books and magazines, art and food. Colette highlights 2 windows and in-store merchandising displays which alternate weekly, It is supported by an online shop http://www.colette.fr where interested shoppers can purchase new products. Colette is a boutique where buyers can find more rare designs alongside established labels. They receive 300 to 700 visitors a week during the year, and 1500 to 3000 visitors during trade shows and fashion-week.
Colette discovers its designers through trade shows, fairs, showrooms and the internet. The big designers dominate sales. However, they always sell a mixture of famous and young brands. This was in fact a reason for establishing the boutique. Colette and Sarah wanted 'to open a new place where they could propose what they like' says head of press and communication, Guillaume Salmon. 'Since the opening, the idea is to mix the brands and the style. We like the idea of showing what we like and we like young designers as well'. Colette stocks up to 150 fashion designers at any given time, including Alexander Wang, Trussardi, Alexis Mabille, Jeremy Scott, Lanvin, Balmain, CDG, House of Holland, Cris Barros, Rodarte, and Marc Jacobs.
The first French Trotters boutique opened in December 2005 in Rue de Charonne, and was followed by a second menswear shop in 2008 and an online boutique in late 2009. Manager Clarent Dehlouz finds his designers by global travel, magazine browsing and online searches. The boutique stocks 60-70 designers in total. Sales are not dominated by one or another designer, but rather individual designers are featured in events which spotlight a collection or product. Their menswear labels include newer designers Oliver Spencer, Margareth Howell, Alden, Gitman, Rocky Mountain, as well as more established brands such as Engineered Garments, Acne, Filippa K, Earnest Sewn. For women Les Prairies de Paris, Jerome Dreyfuss, Indress, Cacharel, Erotokritos are on racks alongside Masscob, MM6, American Outfitter, AIME.
Delhouz maintains that there is a place for the small boutique in Paris. 'The small size is our strength. Our customers like a welcoming "human size" space with a friendly service and good advice. It is a very different shopping experience than chain stores and department stores,' says Dehlouz. ' We don't even consider major brands as competition. Our customers are really specific, looking for edgy products that you don't find everywhere. We don't target a mass market but a "niche" market'.
'We like brands with a story and so do our customers. It's not just about buying a product but his history, where and how the product is made, and which materials it uses. People are more and more interested and careful about these aspects. As for the way we decorate the stores, we follow our tastes and collaborate with people whose talent we admire, like the architects who designed the Vieille du Temple shop.. We are also very interested in vintage furniture (mostly 50's 60's) which we are now starting to sell in the shops and online. We also collaborate regularly with brands to do installations inside the shops and in the windows in order to let them express their story.
THE MAIN EVENT
As Guillaume Salmon from Colette maintains small boutiques also reply on special events and displays to draw attention to particular designers, 'Absolutely, since the beginning, doing events is a big part of our communication'. Darren de Hayes from Tent Showroom agrees, 'The designers that do a fashion show have the most visitors'.
Pelican avenue is an Antwerp label established in 2002 by graduate of Antwerp fashion academy, Caroline Lerch. While showing her collection in another showroom on Rue Charlot, she also organised one of the more extraordinary low budget events of fashion week, a performance featuring Alex Murray-Leslie of fashion art group Chicks on Speed and Estonian dancer Kroot Juurak. Dressed in stretch wear, looking like science fiction amazons from the future, the group pulled, tugged and stretched their bodies around hanging printed fabrics, cutting them with scissors wired with sound sensors for an audience of impressed media and fashion fans.
There are thus multiple avenues for the buyer interested in finding a niche product, from trade shows to the showrooms and small. You can even come across remarkable designs – and ways to promote them- just roaming the streets.
-Philippa N. Barr, Contributing European Features Editor, http://www.uliko.com.au
Images (c) Chicks on Speed and Pelican Ave by Philippa N. Barr
For more information on the mentioned brands and retailers:
Rendez-Vous: http://www.rendez-vous-paris.com/
Happy Socks: http://www.happysocks.com/
Dannijo: http://www.dannijo.com/
Veja: http://www.veja.fr/
French Trotters: http://frenchtrotters.fr/online/
Colette: http://www.colette.fr/
Philippa Lindenthal: http://www.philippalindenthal.de/
Chicks on Speed: http://www.chicksonspeed.com/
Pelican Avenue: http://www.pelicanavenue.com/
Happy Socks: http://www.happysocks.com/
Dannijo: http://www.dannijo.com/
Veja: http://www.veja.fr/
French Trotters: http://frenchtrotters.fr/online/
Colette: http://www.colette.fr/
Philippa Lindenthal: http://www.philippalindenthal.de/
Chicks on Speed: http://www.chicksonspeed.com/
Pelican Avenue: http://www.pelicanavenue.com/
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