Paris Fashion Week: Behind the scenes Part I

Paris Fashion Week may be coming to a close, but even as the runways are cleared, the lights dimmed, and the last model exits, the rest of fashion week happens behind the scenes.

For all the glamour, press and celebrity attention fashion week brings, there would be nothing were it not an incredibly important business, where millions of euros of orders are written and the fashion landscape defined for the next six months. After this week, the world's leading retailers and stores will know exactly what will be on the shop floor next year and what consumers will be buying until the end of summer 2017.

Perhaps that is why the immense pressure on designers and brands to perform is relentless. One season you may be the talk of the town, with press and buyers fawning over your collection, the following ones your designs could be off the mark, as shops looking for the next big thing decide to skip you for a season.

For the past few weeks most designers have been working around the clock to finish their collections. It takes an incredible team and complex supplier processes to finish a runway and commercial collection, which is why so many designers, by the time their slot on the catwalk arrives, are sleep-deprived and in need of some r-and-r. Often after a show, the front row press rush back stage, badgering designers for sound bytes of inspiration, iPhones high in the air to record anything they say, hoping for that one snippet that may explain it all to their readers.

The stakes of achieving runway success are high

One year, one famous designer, who I cannot name other than that he is Belgian, cried after receiving a mixed review from a well-known critic. Such is the pressure on designers, who will have to answer to managing directors, chief officers and a board who all have a stake in the company, where success is tied into a collection that must be well-received, if not perform well at retail. The stakes of runway success are key indicators of its sales forecast, and the numbers companies are looking to achieve must grow season after season. The implications of non performance can be detrimental.

During fashion week consumers are privy to the successes of a certain set of designers who are championed by the media, who triumph on the catwalk with the most Instagrammed shows. Of course there is no denying the major brands and fashion houses have incredible design talent but so too do they have great power over their publicity channels. On the flip side is a much larger group, all striving to have their voices heard and their collections seen, and having to work that much harder to make it happen. The stakes for lesser known designers, thus, are equally high.

There are a multitude of considerations and preparations before Paris fashion week, and organised brands will start three months prior to make appointments with stores - contacting buyers to let them know their sales campaign dates, to inform them of any brand updates and most importantly to start a dialogue that will hopefully culminate in a partnership. Unlike other industries, there are no guarantees, and each season's collection is a tabula rasa, a chance for brands to communicate their vision, showcase their clothes, and wholesale them to stores.

We can quantify the efforts and investment needed to create collections, to showcase them and establish its distribution channels. What we cannot quantify is the magic to make it happen. Such is the essence of fashion week.

Photo credit: Tomorrow showroom, Paris Fashion Week; Atelier Richelieu PFW, source: Facebook, Back stage U Clothing