Fashion lovers, see you at fashion Week in Paris on February 27!<

International fashion capital, Paris welcomes Fashion Week every year in February.Let's go back to a long French tradition of textile creation on ready to wear and haute couture, before taking an interest in the figures of this event and the sector.

Paris Fashion Week, the major event of the world's fashion calendar

As of February 27, the whole planet will have its eyes riveted in Paris and Fashion Week.If the event is organized in three other cities, none attracts crowds as much as the French edition.It must be said that Paris has always been considered the global fashion cradle.

The history of Fashion Week

We attribute to Charles Frederick Worth the first origins of Fashion Week.This father of haute couture decided in 1858 to present the patronages of his new collections to his customers, models exposed on living models, a great first in the environment.This Franco-British also participated in the creation in 1968 of the Syndicale Chamber of Confection and Couture for Ladies and Girls, which aims to promote French fashion and the Haute Couture appellation.Little by little, the presentations of trendy collections to wealthy clients are gaining momentum, until the Second World War marked a stroke of Parisian fashion.

Across the Atlantic and under the leadership of Eleonore Lambert, a New York advertiser, the Press Week, an event devoted to American fashion, was born in 1943. Only the press is invited, but sulks this first edition, before thefollowing do not have great success in the following years.Inspired by this success, Giovanni Battista is organizing the first Italian fashion presentations in Florence.The craze is such that the event was moved to Milan in 1957. In 1961, it was London's turn to organize its first presentations of clothing creations.

In 1973, Paris Fashion Week was officially created and took place at the Palace of Versailles.The Givenchy, Dior and Saint-Laurent houses are participating in it, as well as the American creator Oscar de la Renta.Two years later, it was the official week of Italian fashion that was created, in 1984, that of London, and 1993, that of New York.The Big Four was born.

Today, nearly 140 Fashion Weeks are organized worldwide.

Le Big Four: 18 Fashion Weeks per year

If fashion week begins on February 27 in Paris, it actually marks the conclusion of a month of high mass of clothing trends.Fashion Weeks are still linked in the same order: New York, London, Milan, Paris.They end in the French capital, the world cradle of fashion.So every year:

Haute couture and ready to wear, what differences?

Haute couture is an appellation reserved for the largest Parisian houses, and concerns unique and hand -made clothes by a team of at least 20 people.It takes at least € 10,000 to acquire one of these ultra high -end pieces, this is how haute couture mainly serves as playgrounds and windows for large designers.

Conversely, the ready -to -wear unveils trendy collections that will be taken up within six months by most fashion brands.However, some creators like Tom Ford and Burberry questioned this model, developing a new concept called See Now, Buy Now.The goal is to surf the purchase frenzy caused by Fashion Week and offer clothes for sale immediately after parades.

Who can attend Fashion Week?

To the great despair of all textile fashion lovers, Parisian fashion week is not open to the general public, but reserved for professionals in the sector.To be able to access the parades, you must be in possession of an accreditation or an invitation, delivered in the droppings to journalists and personalities according to their prestige.The only chance to be close to the catwalks is to get a standing place, offered to friends, family members and other trainees in fashion houses.And the happy beneficiaries must not count on a seat, they will have to stand behind the guests.

Some anecdotes on fashion week in Paris

Behind the Parisian week of ready-to-wear parades hide some unusual anecdotes:

Fashion Week and the fashion sector in figures

Representing a significant part of French GDP, the fashion sector is a major economic issue for the country.Fashion Week also generates a turnover and major economic benefits.However, the clothing market has been down for 10 years in France.

Fashion Week's economic benefits

400 parades are organized during the week, 30,000 unique visitors are expected, all major French and international houses are represented, for a turnover estimated at 10 billion euros in transactions.

In parallel, the event generates economic benefits quantified at 1.2 billion euros.The hotel and catering sectors benefit from these indirect income up to 10 million euros each.Each visitor spends an average of 1,823 euros, companies collect 53 million euros and the municipality of Paris, 11.5 million euros.

The weight of French fashion in the economy

French fashion turnover represents 150 billion euros, 33 billion of which are made for export.33 billion euros are generated by manufacturing, 43 billion by wholesale and 74 billion by the retail sale of clothing.This CA represents 2.7% of the country's GDP (more than the automotive and aeronautical constructions combined) and 1 million jobs.Clothes and textiles cut the lion's share, with a turnover of 67 billion euros, in front of the other luxury sectors, such as perfumes and cosmetics (44 billion euros), or shoes and leather goods(22 billion euros).

Internationally, France asserts itself as the world leader in fashion, weighs 1/4 of all sales and is present in 180 countries.More than 50% of exports are done outside Europe and the market is largely dominated by big names like LVMH, Kering, Chanel and Hermès.The average export rate is 86% in 2017 and was even able to reach 90% for certain companies.Moreover, it should be noted that in France, one in 13 social structure has fashion or luxury.The fashion segment has more than 40,000 companies and weighs around 580,000 direct jobs.

Fashion, a sector in decline for 10 years in France

In 10 years, the textile fashion market has lost 15% of its value, and the year 2018 ended with a decline of 2.9%.In question, cyclical factors such as the movements of the yellow vests, which also contributed to the poor assessment of winter 2019, but also structural sales, with the establishment of new consumption modes.The market is restructured, with a tendency to deconformation of the French.They are thus 44% to have bought fewer clothes in 2018, certainly motivated by budgetary reasons, but also by the desire to less impact the environment.Another bad news for the fashion brands of young adults, this target also declares that it has spent less money to dress.

On the other hand, sportswear fashion brands, like Decathlon, increased by 3.3%.This is how sports clothing represented 6.7 billion euros approximately last year, and increased by almost 1 billion in 5 years.The French are indeed more and more numerous to love dressing with sports clothes, which they renew more regularly.In the same way, the sale of online fashion explodes, carried by an ever greater enthusiasm of buyers for this mode of consumption.

The luxury sector is still doing as well in France, supported in particular by Chinese buyers and the generation of Millennials.

Textile fashion trends

Faced with a deep market restructuring, a number of levers exist to reverse its trend to withdraw, including:

On February 27, we will be able to discover the clothing trends for the coming season on the catwalks of the fashion week parades.