It's Bright and Paris Is Hot: PFW Recap, Days 1 & 2
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After nine hours in the air, eating questionable airline food, collecting my luggage, and making my way to my BnB in 40-degree weather, it was hard to feel excited about Paris Fashion Week. The days ahead suddenly felt a little daunting, already exhausted.
Knowing this, I booked an appointment with Gajiroc on my very first day. The conversations I have there are always calming, and it felt like the perfect way to ease into the week. Rather than rushing into the chaos or aimlessly wandering Paris alongside waves of tourists, I wanted to begin somewhere familiar, somewhere that helped me settle into the rhythm of it all.
While most may think fashion week is constant chaos, and it is, there are pockets where time slows down. You can breathe, take the space you need.
Yes, you’re surrounded by beautifully made clothes, but my appointments are rarely just about the garments. They’re about catching up with people I’ve gotten to know over previous seasons, asking how they’ve been, what’s new in their lives, and simply checking in. It’s that sense of community that keeps bringing me back. As much as I love discovering new brands, I also value the friendships that come with them. The human element is just as important as the clothes themselves.
Saying that, this season I received an increase of invitations to runway shows. While the schedule was still packed with showroom appointments from brands like De Dam Foundation, Irenisa, Sororam, Sine & Cosine, and a handful of others, I also received invitations to larger-scale productions from Kiko Kostadinov, Auralee, Soshiotsuki, and more.
It’s still surreal being seated as press alongside people I’ve looked up to for years. (I kept running into Edward Buchanan throughout the week, we were practically following each other from venue to venue.) It’s a genuine privilege to attend Paris Fashion Week, cover these collections, and spend time with the people behind them. A few years ago, I never would’ve imagined this would become part of my life, but it’s now become a side-job of sorts.
As always, thank you for reading and supporting what I’m building here. Enough of the sentimental shit though, let’s talk about clothes.
(Sidenote: I didn't include Auralee in this round-up because I wrote a separate review of the collection, which you can find here.)