Paris Fashion Week Diary, Day 5

By now the debilitating heat has become part of the fashion week’s fabric. It is pointless to ask how people are doing when you meet them – there is only one answer. The fashion media is full of articles questioning the viability of fashion week in time of global warming. To me there is no question that the summer fashion schedule must be shifted a few weeks ahead, but I am afraid this would wreak havoc on production schedules for brands. And in any case, in the country whose motto of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” has been replaced with “C’est ne pas possible,” I highly doubt anything will change, unless someone dies of heat stroke at a show and a brand gets sued, which is only a matter of time. Shows still begin half an hour late while the diligent attendees patiently wait, drenched in sweat. The 82-year-old Yohji Yamamoto, visibly exhausted, was escorted out after his show held up by two assistants, as documented by Truss Archive. The invitation to his men’s show, which is held at his showroom where attendees are packed like sardines in a can, promised air conditioning, but by all accounts (I am no longer invited, because I apparently once wrote something that displeased his Japanese PR team), it was a sauna inside.

Day 5 was Japan day (as are most of my days during Paris Fashion Week). It started with a photoshoot at Taichi Murakami, one of my favorites. Murakami blends technical and natural fabrics into a unique and masterful combo that has vague hints of workwear and performance gear, but what comes out is an absolutely fashion-forward proposition. His silver jewelry and watches provide an additional supportive aesthetic layer to his intricately constructed clothes.

Then it was onto the Undercover showroom, full of expectation and excitement, since I saw from Jun Takahashi’s Instagram story that we were in for a treat of another collaboration with the Belgian artist Micheal Borremans! The collection was great, as expected. Takahashi wrote that Borremans is his favorite artist, and I support this statement! Besides the cool graphics, in this collection Takahashi continued his experiments with twisted seams, which I love.

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