French Federation releases Paris ready-to-wear show schedule, with four new entries

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 27, 2020

The Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion, French fashion’s governing body, has released the schedule for next month’s runway season in Paris, inviting four new designers onto its official calendar.

It granted two Paris-based houses, Coperni and Gauchere; Kenneth Ize of Nigeria and Noir Kei Ninomiya of Japan much coveted slots on the official schedule, guaranteeing them far greater media and commercial attention for their shows.
 
The Fall/Winter 2020/21 season is scheduled to run from Monday, Feb. 24 to Tuesday March 3, bringing to a close a month of shows that kick off Tuesday Feb. 4 in New York. The season will also witness one major debut at an established house, when Felipe Oliveira Baptista unveils his first ideas for Kenzo.

All eyes will be on Kenneth Ize, an energetic and optimistic young talent who was a finalist in the 2019 LVMH Prize. Ninomiya is a Comme des Garçons alumnus who remains part of that extended design realm. He has also participated in season two of Moncler Genius, winning acclaim for his all black, faux-armour-plated take on the iconic puffer.  

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Coperni, composed of the French duo of Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer, has staged several presentations since launching back in 2013. While Gauchere, which despite its French sounding name, was founded by a German designer Marie-Christine Statz, has previously staged indie shows, but not on the official listing.
 
In effect, the new foursome take up slots on the calendar freed up by the departure of Afterhomework, Manish Arora, Cédric Charlier and Yang Li.
 
The federation also included four other houses who will stage presentations on the events listing. They are Boyarovskaya, Germanier and Xuly Bët of France, and Thebe Magugu of South Africa.
 
Magugu was the winner of last year’s LVMH Prize, so expect plenty of fashionistas to attend his Paris debut. Both Ize and Magugu already appeared in a joint show in Tokyo in October last year, as part of a cultural exchange program between Africa and Japan.