The venues of Paris Fashion Week

When it comes to Fashion Week, location is everything. Well okay, maybe not everything. The clothes are important too, as are the models and the ritzy after-parties and the high-profile guests. But a show’s venue can have a huge effect on how a collection is received. The right music, set and lighting can enhance a designer’s work, calling attention to every detail from the length of the zipper to the width of the hemline to the right blend of chemicals that produced the perfect shade of tangerine. The choice of venue also speaks to the intention of the collection. Cutting-edge and a little gritty? Go for a parking lot in the 3rd arrondissement, like Estrella Archs did on Wednesday. High-shine and glamorous? The pitch black interior of the Espace Ephémére des Tuileries provided a sexy backdrop for Tuesday’s Sophia Kokosalaki show. Impasse de la Defense chose the beautiful Belle Epoque interior of Le Train Bleu as the backdrop for its brightly-painted textiles, while Dévastée went with the hot nightclub Le Showcase to exhibit its casual, youthful summer collection. But many designers stayed safe and chose the elegant, if impersonal, salles of the Carrousel du Louvre. The Carrousel is the epicenter of Paris Fashion Week, a madhouse filled with fashion folk shuffling from show to show, photographers jostling for celebrity shots and intrepid tourists trying to sneak past the security guards. The lobby is bordered by stands selling fashion trade publications, and a chic upstairs lounge offers Lavazza coffee, Kusmi tea and Schweppes cocktails between shows. This year, the large event spaces of the Carrousel played host to many of the shows by established medium-profile designers – Gaspard Yurkievich, Tsumori Chisato, Issey Miyake, Andrew Gn, Léonard Alena Akhmadullina, Elie Saab, Wunderkind, Collette Dinnigan and Chapurin are some of the designers I caught there. Many of the top designers opted for more grandiose settings – Gareth Pugh and Agnès B. at the Palais de Tokyo, Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel at the Grand Palais, Dries Van Noten at the Jardin de Palais Royal. The Espace Eiffel was popular this year, with shows from Nina Ricci, Isabel Marant, Karl Lagerfeld, Giambattista Valli, Hermès and Lanvin, as was the Espace Ephémére Tuileries, a huge tent erected in the Jardin des Tuileries which hosted Christian Dior, Sophia Kokosalaki, Christian Lacroix, Celine, Valentino and Chloé. While it is just one component of a successful show, these vets know that location can make all the difference. Jessica Marati is an American freelance writer based in Paris. For more of her coverage of Fashion Week, including multimedia, visit http://crashinfashionweek.wordpress.com.