Atelier Versace passes on showing at Paris Couture Week

London - A key fashion house is absent from the show schedule for the upcoming Paris Couture Fashion week: Atelier Versace.

The luxury Italian fashion house will not be hosting its usual fashion show during the opening night of the Paris Spring/Summer 2017 Couture Fashion Week come Sunday evening. Instead Versace has decided to invest in hosting a number of events across the year in different cities for its leading clients, as the luxury maison cuts down on the number of shows it hosts per year.

"At the moment, we do six shows a year, and my feeling is: That’s a lot of shows," said Chief Executive Officer at Versace, Jonathan Akeroyd, to The New York Times. "Eight, if you count couture, seems excessive. And we all know the model is changing quite a lot, so why not take the opportunity to try something new?"

However, according to the official schedule from the Fédération Française de la Couture du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode, the trade organization behind Paris Couture Fashion Week, Atelier Versace is set to host private presentations for clients and buyers from January 23 to 25 during Couture week.

Atelier Versace decision not to show at Paris Couture Fashion Week this season, or next, is said to be his first major step since he was appointed CEO last spring. The move follows on from several other fashion houses decisions to either cut down on the number of shows they host per year by merging women's wear shows with men's wear, such as Burberry, Kenzo, Vivienne Westwood, or skipping out on a fashion week show all together.

However Akeroyd stressed that the main reasons Atelier Versace would not be hosting a show at Paris Couture Fashion Week this year were the "time and intensity of producing a show", adding that "The investment has not changed; the atelier is the same size." He pointed out that Versace's ongoing red carpet dressing of celebrities also spread brand awareness effectively - most likely more effectively than hosting an invite-only show during Paris Couture Week. He did not rule out Atelier Versace potential return to Couture Fashion Week next year however.

The announcement from Atelier Versace comes as debate concerning the relevancy of haute couture arises once more. Although brands can still generate income by dressing the 1 percent, at the end of the day fashion houses rely on their ready-to-wear collections, accessories rangs and cosmetics to make a real profit - leveraging couture as a marketing tool.

Photo 1: Courtesy of Atelier Versace

Photo 2: Courtesy of Versace by Donatella Versace, with Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, Rizzoli New York, 2016.