Villepinte (AFP)

If in 18 months you wear blue "earth of sky", nothing will be due to chance. Specialists and influencers from all over the world have already captured the spirit of the times for you and the fashion machine has started.

Immersion in this blue-gray shade is immediate at the Première vision show. This bi-annual high-end mass in the fashion sector, will be held from 11 to 13 February in Villepinte, north of Paris, and will welcome more than 1,700 exhibitors and 55,000 visitors.

From the color of the walls and the carpet, to the ribbon on which the badges of the visitors are hung, passing by the flowers which bring out the nuance even better: you cannot miss this intriguing blue during this unique and unmissable event, which brings together manufacturers and creators.

- International consultation -

"Historically Première vision has been working on collective intelligence long before it was fashionable," Pascaline Wilhelm, fashion director of the fair created 45 years ago by a handful of Lyon weavers, told AFP. over the years on an international scale.

The color palette for summer 2021, presented at this fair, is the result of several consultations organized before this international event in Paris.

"We are fifteen, the colors in Brazil are not the same as in England, Japan does not have the same perception as Italy and Portugal has its say", says Pascaline Wilhelm.

The idea of ​​this blue is that of "freshness, porosity. It embodies the intellect, the sacred (...) the notion of eco-responsibility, of movement, of being both in the water and in air ", she lists.

Besides "THE color", visitors can acquire for 170 euros a range offering 22 other nuances, lively and joyful, with imaginary names like "psycho-green", "plastic violet", "raspberry botox", "effervescent melon" , "post-coral" or "peroxidized lemon".

Any photo is strictly prohibited as well as the sketches that the guards confiscate: colors, patterns or stripes will not see the light of day for six to eighteen months on the catwalks of the parades and in the street, and some will be adopted exclusively by the major luxury brands.

The approach of the show is very special. "It is not possible to take an analytical look, we are not trying to understand, but to capture the spirit of the times", explains to AFP Gilles Lasbordes, director general of Première vision.

- Exit XXL -

"Première vision is the beginning of the history of creation", underlines Jean-Pierre Blanc, founder of the Hyères International Festival, springboard for young creation.

Festival finalists whose 35th edition will be held at the end of April, as well as famous creators roam the fair in search of materials for their next collection. Exhibitors are handpicked, the criteria being creativity and constant renewal.

The materials presented as viscose mixed with silk or "hybrid" linen whisper the silhouettes to come.

"We have materials that will accompany these changes with fluidity and lightness. We will probably come back to sexier things, closer to the body, after having covered the body with XXL and overlays for years", predicts Pascaline Wilhelm.

Flax, of which France is the leading producer in the world, is back in force.

"This meets societal expectations of having a product more in tune with nature and eco-responsible", explains to AFP Marie-Emmanuelle Belzung, director general of the European Confederation of flax and hemp.

Naturally flexible and hybrid, it no longer has the appearance and the feel of a fabric "that comes out of the closet of grandmothers".

The mesh democratized the material and took it out of the cycle of the seasons. Washed linen with all the finishes and finishes available today is no longer stiff or wrinkled.

The innovation of the season is linen blended "not to be cheaper but to surprise": with tencel (cellulose-based fiber) for a stretch effect or "glamorous and feminine" with golden threads, "it can transpose on evening dresses ".

© 2020 AFP