Pret a Porter

And so I've finally got my hands on a few photographs from my recent class trip to Paris. Firstly I have to put up this picture because it's of me with my camera the last time it worked. A tragic loss; where are the kleenex when I need them?


So yeah, the reason we were there was to attend the Pret-a-Porter show in Porte de Versailles.

Basically it's a big trade fair for designers to showcase their ss2011 collections and brings the designers together with manufacturers, buyers, and other professionals from the fashion world.

Women's wear fashion and accessories are exhibited according to three different market categories or "universes". There's the designers and creator's universe with 'Atmosphere' and 'The Box'; the new market universe with 'Shibuya' and 'So Ethic'; the heart of the market universe with 'Go Easy', 'Go Magic' and 'Creative By'. I thought the 'So Ethic' section was particularly interesting as all the clothes were concerned with ethical means of production and taking into consideration the relationship between man and the environment. Appearing for the first time last year it was not only host to brands who manufacture their products from organic and recycled materials, but it makes a plea to those in the industry to revise their means of production and move towards investing in sustainable development - make a stamp on its carbon footprint etcetera etcetera

It was an amazing experience being right there in the middle of all the action, to think that what I was seeing wouldn't be seen in the shops by anyone until this time next year... It was SO big, and there was something like 1,500 designers so I was definitely overwhelmed like I was probably walking around in a daze with my mouth hanging open for the half of it!

Two designers who stood out, in my humble opinion, were:

Fleamadonna ( South Korea)


Loa Andriamasomanana (Denmark)
























Jei Kim is the creative force behind Fleamadonna, and she says it's the bling of 1980's muisc divas (like Madonna) that inspires her designs . I like this.

We spent the day walking around with our special bright pink passes round our necks, oohing and aahing and asking lots of questions. There were things going on the whole time, like little fashion shows on small runways, I even saw some flamenco dancing. And in one of the corners on the second floor was EXPLOSION DE MODES which was all about the future of fashion, how influences come together to form the style of an era, the different effects various forms of art have on fashion, and a look at the expectations of where fashion is going.

Fashion of tomorrow? It's pretty funny if you think about it, considering I remember a time when we thought that by 2000 everyone would be dressed all in silver and wearing some weird futuristic version of moon boots...