New Arrivals and Returnees Flock to Provisional Paris Schedule
● It will be busy between Sept. 26 and Oct. 4 as Victoria Beckham and Zimmermann debut and many more return to Parisian runways.
PARIS — Spring 2023 has sprung, if the provisional Paris Fashion Week schedule is anything to go by.
With a total of 105 events, including 64 shows and 41 presentations, and 11 new brands on the schedule, it will be a packed nine days from Sept. 26 to Oct. 4.
The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode published its preliminary calendar on Friday, unveiling a near-fully physical schedule.
Only Uma Wang, Shiatzy Chen, Kimhekim and Calvin Luo are slated to show their collections solely digitally, owing to ongoing travel restrictions with Asia.
Digital content will continue to be broadcast on the federation's dedicated platform, ranging from pre-recorded films to livestreams and post-show edits.
Kicking off the season is LVMH Prize semifinalist label Weinsanto, designed by 28-year-old Victor Weinsanto, with its 5 p.m. on-schedule debut on Sept. 26.
Victoria Beckham's inaugural Parisian show will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, the first runway for her new design team led by design director Lara Barrio.
The other two entrants, Australian label Zimmermann and London-based A.W.A.K.E. Mode, will show later in the week, at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 and 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, respectively.
AZ Factory, which said in June it would morph into a multibrand retailer and showroom, will cap off the week's penultimate day at 8 p.m. on Oct. 3.
In the lineup are Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Valentino, Givenchy and Off-White, which put on a star-studded tribute show to its late founder Virgil
Abloh in March.
Conspicuously absent is Celine, whose June 26 return to the calendar came with a side show of K-pop pandemonium outside the venue as fans jostled to get a glimpse of Blackpink's Lalisa Manobal,
BTS member Kim Tae-hyung, better known as V, and his bestie, actor Park Bo-gum.
On the final day of the women's spring 2023 season, Chanel, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton will reprise their pre-pandemic traditions by taking the 10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. slots on Oct. 4.
Also expected to be present in person and in number this season are Japanese designers, who had not shown physically in Paris since the pandemic.
Comme des Garçons and Junya Watanabe had returned to Paris for men's in June. They will be joined by Noir Kei Ninomiya on Oct. 1, kicking off the day at 9:30 a.m. for Watanabe, followed by Ninomiya at 12 p.m. and Rei Kawakubo's designs at 5 p.m.
Undercover, Mame Kurogouchi, Anrealage and Beautiful People will also all be putting on runway shows throughout the week.
For their compatriot Mitsuru Nishizaki, it will be the first time his label Ujoh will hold an on-schedule show in Paris, after entering the official schedule last October. It will be the final runway show of the spring 2023 season, showing after Vuitton at 5 p.m. on Oct. 4.
Yohji Yamamoto will also stage his women's runway in Paris, after broadcasting his men's collection from Tokyo in June, while Dries Van Noten and Thom Browne will bring their women's collections back on the runway, after showing their menswear IRL in June.
Other returnees include Lanvin, whose parent Lanvin Group is gearing up for an IPO; Ukrainian label Litkovskaya, poignantly representing the designer's creative compatriots last February at Tranoï, and GmbH, which had switched to the women's schedule last season due to the new role of its designers Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik as creative directors at Trussardi.
As for presentations, the seven new names added this season will be distilled through the nine-day showcase, supplementing their scheduled reveals with events. These include French label Boutet Solanes, which updated its name to reflect the input of Constance Boutet's design partner José Maria Solanes; Pressiat; Ruohan; Paula Canovas Del Vas, and Ukrainian designer Anna October.
Austrian brand Florentina Leitner and French outdoor specialist Aigle, designed by the designer trio Etudes Studio, will be on Oct. 2 and 4, respectively.
French jewelry house Messika separately revealed that it would hold an off-schedule show on Sept. 28.
The definitive version of the Paris Fashion Week schedule will be released the week of Sept. 12.