The recent fashion evening organized by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron at the Elysée Palace was an opportunity for the President to announce the future organization of a Day dedicated to this sector during the Paris Olympics. The initiative was the brainchild of Anna Wintour, who was one of 214 guests at a dinner underlining the Elysée’s interest in the sector.
Paris already had fashion as its standard. It will soon have its Olympic Games. So why not combine the two?
A Fashion Day will be organized in central Paris to coincide with the next Olympic Games in July. French President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement at the fashion dinner he hosted with his wife Brigitte at the Elysée Palace on October 2, bringing Fashion Week in the capital to a fitting close.
The President decided to put into practice the idea of British-American journalist Anna Wintour, the famous editor-in-chief of Vogue, who was of course one of the 214 guests at the October 2 event. The entire ecosystem of the French industry was thus very well represented at what was the third dinner dedicated to the sector organized (after those in October 2018 and February 2020) by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.
The presidential duo’s interest in fashion
The pace and format of the evening underscore the presidential duo’s keen interest in a sector that has long been underestimated, if not scorned. Before Emmanuel Macron, only one other President, François Mitterrand, had organized such an evening in 1984, and that was just once.
What a symbol, when we recall Georges Pompidou‘s famous outburst at a press conference in 1972, when he held the highest office in the land. Dear old France! La bonne cuisine! […] Haute Couture, good exports… cognac, champagne and even Bordeaux and Burgundy […] It’s over! France has begun, and largely begun, an industrial revolution!”
But if Minitel and Concorde have since disappeared, luxury goods, and in particular fashion, are more alive than ever…and their players were present in large numbers at the October 2 event.
Table of honor
The most honored guests at the presidential couple’s table were Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior), Demna (Balenciaga), Pierpaolo Piccioli (Valentino), Jean-Claude Jitrois, Veronique Nichanian (Hermès), Pharrell Williams and Nicolas Ghesquière (Louis Vuitton Homme and Femme), Anna Wintour, model Naomi Campbell, jewelry princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, and Delphine Arnault and Bruno Pavlovsky, respectively at the helm of fashion activities for Chanel and Dior (LVMH Group).
But many other designers (Olivier Rousteing (Balmain), Ines de la Fressange, Vanessa Bruno, the Coperni duo, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Ludovic de Saint-Sernin, Stéphane Rolland, Rick Owens, Giambattista Valli, Olivier Theyskens, Lutz Huelle, Alexandre Mattiussi (Ami), Iris Van Herpen, Peter Do…) and company heads or top executives were also able to exchange views over the buffet or sit-down dinner. Among the executives were well-known industry figures such as Bastien Daguzan (Jacquemus) or Nicolas Santi-Weil (Ami)… ) or members of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) executive committee (Sidney Toledano (LVMH Fashion Group), Francesca Bellettini (Yves Saint Laurent/Kering), Anouck Duranteau-Loeper (Isabelle Marant), Guillaume de Seynes (Hermès), Elsa Lanzo (Rick Owens) or Pascal Morand, FHCM executive president.
Finally, the Elysée invited a number of representatives from the industry (Fédération de la haute couture et de la mode (FHCM), Institut français de la mode, DEFI…), celebrities (such as singer Cher), journalists and several ministers.
Fashion’s concerns
In front of this magnificent array, the President of the Republic’s flagship announcement of a future Fashion Day during the globally over-mediatized event of the 2024 Olympics was obviously not to be disliked.
It was also a clever way of responding to the concerns expressed by the fashion industry, via the mouth of Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the FHCM, regarding the future 2024 Olympics in Paris. Which will both complicate the organization of Fashion Week and access to fashion boutiques unlucky enough to be located in traffic-restricted zones…
Bruno Pavlovsky also took the opportunity to explain that his sector keeps its promises (which is not always the case with politicians…). A way of insisting that the President continue to give his business his undivided attention?
Sustainable transition
Bruno Pavlovsky finally recalled that in August 2019, at the G7 summit in Biarritz, Emmanuel Macron had strongly urged the fashion and textile sector to make a greater commitment to sustainable transition.
And that since then, “Day by day, each brand is progressing at its own pace towards the circular economy, transparency and value chain transformation … while safeguarding know-how and excellence”…
The President of the FHCM paid tribute to the efforts made by all the members of his Federation’s Executive Committee to support the emergence of a new generation of designers…
Brigitte Macron’s wardrobe
Emerging designers who are not yet part of Brigitte Macron’s official wardrobe.
It’s true that on October 2, the President’s wife was careful not to wear a 100% Louis Vuitton silhouette, which she is sometimes criticized for favoring too much…
While her black jacket adorned with large crystal buttons was still signed by Nicolas Ghesquière, designer of the famous Lvmh label, she paired it with Barbara Bui pants, while wearing a purple pair of Christian Louboutin wedges…
According to the indiscretions of the women’s press, at the dinner she said that, on a personal level, she particularly appreciated the houses of two timeless, so Frenchy designers, Vanessa Bruno and Inès de la Fressange. At least the First Lady won’t be making any fashion faux pas with these fashion stalwarts…
Read also > MARC BOHAN: PORTRAIT OF A TALENTED BUT DISCREET COUTURIER
Featured Photo: © Présidence de la République
