Parisians poised for Prêt à porter

Article published on the 2009-09-07 Latest update 2009-09-10 12:47 TU

A display at Prêt à Porter Paris
(Credit: Prêt à Porter Paris ®)

 Around 44,000 people come to sell or buy, to network, or simply to collect ideas and pick up trends in a business which is constantly creating and moving. 

Outside the Prêt à Porter in Paris
(Credit: Prêt à Porter Paris ®)

 
“We show in London and Milan as well, but Paris is always very good for us” says Alex Berstein of Bernshaws in London. He runs a long-established family business selling evening dresses and party wear, designed by his sister.

The glamorous, feminine lines of his spring collection are popular, he says, despite the economic downturn. “People are more cautious but our dresses sell very well. They come back to us because we offer a good service and they wear well, they’re a good price point, and they fit well.”

Fashion show
(Credit: Prêt à Porter Paris ®)

 Young Korean designer Doii Lee is also reporting reasonable sales. It’s her third time at the Paris show, and she says it seems livelier than last year, and that business is better.

Her brightly coloured clothes in natural fabrics are imaginative and unusual, and they are not sold cheaply. “Normally my buyers are selling the very top high end fashion designers in their stores….but they can have exclusivity with my collection. I try to be original and provide the market with what is not available elsewhere.”
 
The Prêt à porter show covers thousands of square metres, with every possible style, look and fabric. “The Box” is the venue for jewellery and accessories, and the variety seems endless.

Designer Alexandra Senes was commissioned to create an exhibition on the second floor which would capture the essence of where the fashion industry is at today. She came up with “Less Excess”, inspired by the notion that all of us are a mix of fashion personas.

At one extreme is the type of person who lives simply and calmly and dresses in uncluttered, natural materials. At the other end of the spectrum is the Excess persona, whom Senes describes as “bulimic” in her appetite for all that life has to offer. Excess types are compulsive consumers, who crave colour, buzz and quantity.
 
Whatever the type, their taste is represented at this year’s Salon du Prêt à Porter, which runs until 7 September at the Porte de Versailles in Paris.