How Haute Couture Week Has Gone Global

Haute couture is a byword for exclusivity, and mostly associated with French houses that could trace their roots to the middle of the last century, if not earlier. This week’s schedule is still packed with names like Chanel and Christian Dior. But even the highest echelons of luxury fashion are not immune to globalisation. The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode has gradually opened up, both by broadening its official ranks and inviting guest designers from regions that were previously afterthoughts on the schedule at best.

It’s rare now for a season to not include a notable geographic “first”: there was Guo Pei, the first designer born and raised in China to show on the schedule, in 2016. Rahul Mishra was the first Indian designer to show at couture week in the Spring/Summer 2020 season, along with Imane Ayissi, the first from sub-Saharan Africa. This week will see the first designer from the Gulf region, Mohammed Ashi, whose Paris-based Ashi Studio shows on Thursday (the Middle East as a whole has been represented at couture week for many years by Lebanese designers Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad, among others).

The more-diverse schedule reflects a couture clientele that’s increasingly centred in Asia, the Middle East and other regions beyond the traditional core of Europe and North America. Earlier this month, Bain & Co. and Italian trade group Altagamma predicted that India’s luxury market could expand to 3.5 times today’s size by 2030, representing up to 40 million new middle- and high-income customers. Emerging African countries, including South Africa and Nigeria, could see an additional 10 million such consumers. A strong dollar and rising interest rates caused the portfolios of ultra-high-net-worth individuals – couture’s main customer – to take a hit last year, according to Knight Frank, a consultancy. But some 69 percent of wealth managers the firm surveyed anticipate a rebound this year.

The schedule has been thrown into uncertainty as protests sweep France in the wake of a police shooting of a 17-year-old in a Paris suburb; on Saturday, Hedi Slimane announced Celine would be cancelling its show planned for Sunday. Assuming the couture shows press ahead (and most did amid even larger pension reform protests in January), the week will serve as an important step for designers who are looking to parlay local stardom into an international audience. That was certainly the case for Mishra, who in 2022 signed a deal with Reliance to launch ready-to-wear with an international audience in mind. He’s now joined by fellow Indian couture designer Gaurav Gupta, back for a second show after making his couture week debut in January. Ashi, who founded Ashi Studio in Saudi Arabia in 2006 but moved to Paris in 2018, has over the years expanded his client base of Middle Eastern royalty and Hollywood elite to include edgier pop stars like Lady Gaga and Rina Sawayama.

What Else to Watch for This Week

Sunday

Alaïa shows in Paris

Monday

Wimbledon tennis tournament begins

Haute Couture Week: Schiaparelli, Iris Van Herpen, Dior, Thom Browne, Rahul Mishra

Tuesday

Independence Day holiday (US)

Haute Couture Week: Chanel, Giorgio Armani Privé

Wednesday

Haute Couture Week: Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaulthier, Valentino

Thursday

Haute Couture Week: Fendi, Ashi Studio, Gaurav Gupta

Levi’s reports results

Eurozone reports May retail sales

Friday

US reports June unemployment data

The Week Ahead wants to hear from you! Send tips, suggestions, complaints and compliments to brian.baskin@businessoffashion.com.