For labels like Nouchi’s, it’s become impossible to keep up with the bigger players. Pharrell Williams took over the courtyard of the Centre Pompidou for his Louis Vuitton show, and Anderson’s Dior runway was decorated with two art pieces worth millions, which were directly transported from the Louvre and the National Museum of Scotland. Who could even come close?
Perhaps this is why Nicolas Di Felice of Courrèges hosted a summer kick-off rave in the outskirts of Paris in lieu of his usual menswear presentation this season. Courrèges only has runway shows during ready-to-wear season, with men’s being a showroom-only affair. The party gained buzz as the Paris show leg began, and became a much-discussed happening by the time the week wrapped. It was a brilliant and effective way of garnering authentic attention during a busy time; it was far enough for the people to be there to actually want to be there — plus, Di Felice’s clothes lend themselves well to the dance floor.
Similar to the makeshift Dior watch party, the crowds outside of the Courrèges rave rivalled many shows this season. You can’t crash runway shows these days, but you can get into any party if you try hard enough. As Nouchi put it: “The screening will be exclusive, but the party is for everyone.”
The celebrity contingent
After the Dior show, there were no doubts. Fashion shows still matter, no matter how small. The internet has granted them precious real estate in the feeds of anyone who would be remotely — or algorithmically — interested. Anderson can get away with reducing the capacity of his debut because we’re still going to tune in to see it. In this case, if a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to see it, it does make a sound — because you can replay it on YouTube after the fact.
Guided by metrics, few activations beat a traditional fashion show, and that boils down to the star factor. Dior invited Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Sabrina Carpenter, and Rihanna and A$AP Rocky. Louis Vuitton had Beyoncé and Jay-Z in its front row, and Prada had Harris Dickinson, Riz Ahmed and more. The showing was a testament to what a huge year it’s been for men on the red carpet — they seem to be having all of the fun. One would think that, with the attention labels have been getting by dressing internet boyfriends from Andrew Garfield to Damson Idris, runway shows feel less necessary than ever before. Except, they’re actually the other side of the coin.
If Dior — or Vuitton, or Prada, or Armani — can turn a show into their own mini-celeb symposium, why would they not? As it turns out, the halo effect the red carpet has had on menswear this year is not to invalidate the runway, but to turn the runway into an event worthy of a red carpet itself. “I think you can’t show the breadth of work on a red carpet,” Kim Jones told my colleague Laure Guilbault earlier this year, speaking on the utility of runway shows today. “On the red carpet, the actors are going where they want to; they don’t want to stand out too much, they just want to look good. Fashion shows are very different.” We’ve now reached the point where brands can have both.
The big leagues
Runway shows don’t just matter to those in the big leagues, they continue to be the Holy Grail for those starting out. It’s less about metrics than it is about appearances, of becoming the next big thing.
