A more current PAPP

A new Director and a new calendar concept… Meeting with a cutting edge team whose mission is to support designer brands during the post-crisis period and renew the legitimacy of women’s ready-to-wear as an indispensable

market. See as follows.

FashionUnited: PAPP will host the event at the Palais Brongniart (Place de la Bourse) for two days on the 4th and 5th of July this year, Paris Fashion Days. What are the advantages of this event?

Muriel Piaser, new Director of PAPP trade fairs: Paris Fashion Days (PFD) and its commercial platform Before By July give designer brands a very strong positioning at a key moment of the year. We are heading towards this new project, which meets both the market and the brands’ expectations. Apart from Fashion Week, there is no “women’s” event. Not only does Paris Fashion Days come a few days ahead of the Bread & Butter trade fair and Haute Couture week, but it is also just at the time that buyers place their first orders. It is a unique opportunity for the brands to present their pre-collections.

FU: Who is the target audience for Paris Fashion Days?

MP: Brands who need to establish themselves via their image outside of Fashion Week. We can’t enter into direct competition with Fashion Week, but we can offer designers a shop window, in particular for secondary collections, which are the brands’ business. I am thinking of Ventcouver’s diffusion line, “Anglomania” by Vivienne Westwood and "JC/DC" de Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.

FU: Your collaboration with IMG Fashion UK which organises Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York and Berlin as well as the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, it’s a coup...

MP: We have a sizeable new business partner. Our two-year partnership IMG Fashion UK [editor’s note: leader in, amongst other things, catwalk show production] is going to give us access to international recognition. It is the first time that the group has come to Paris. As well as international sponsorship, it will be in charge of advising and strategy.

FU: So this is not about competing with the PAPP trade fair in September at the Parc des Expositions at the Porte de Versailles, which will be undertaking renovations from early 2011. Is there a positive to this negative perhaps…

Jean-Pierre Mocho, Chairman of the French Federation of women’s ready-to-wear and Chairman of the Board of Sodes, the company which organises the Paris ready-to-wear trade fair (PAPP): All I would say is that the point is not to sell square metres to brands. What is important, even for an appointment outside of the trade fair, is to appear on the international calendar.

FU: What is the main strength of the PAPP group?

J-P M: To be able to offer brands representation in Paris, New York and Tokyo. The Train and The Box trade fairs in New York as well as our partnership with the Showroom 7 fair allows us to bring our European vision into play. “European-style” coherence among the collections is appreciated. At a time when Fashion Weeks overlap we try to anticipate the role of the French Federation of women’s ready-to-wear and to be present.
We remain attentive to changes in the consumer and in the market. The latest studies on textile consumption show that consumers are looking above all for creativity and quality. With Paris Fashion Days we aim to respond to this desire for fashion that translates into a product, but also into a thoughtful purchase.

FU: You feel that the PAPP team is full of energy and the desire to engage more closely with the brands.

MP: The launch of Paris Fashion Days at the Palais Brongniart bears witness to our desire to offer designer brands a complete package which includes a stand space as well as the catwalk production (fitting, make-up, hair and stage production), advice on intellectual property and counterfeiting issues. Among those who have responded positively to the invitation to Paris Fashion Days, so far we have Hache / Ter et Bantine, Anglomania / Vivienne Westwood, Chemins blancs, Ventcouvert and Lener Fabrique for coats. To be continued...

From our correspondent in Paris