Paris (AFP)

"Give us back the podiums"! The artistic ambition was there for the first digital Fashion Week in Paris, but the films did not convince nostalgic critics of the emotion of the "real" fashion show.

We saw "short films, music videos, trailers, advertisements of perfumes. A few clothes, too," quipped influential fashion critic Vanessa Friedman in the New York Times.

Because of coronavirus, haute couture and then men's ready-to-wear week, which ends on Monday, had to reinvent themselves and present the few outfits that the creators had time to design after confinement in videos " creative ".

"But honestly, give me back the podium. Even if I had never thought of writing such a thing," said Vanessa Friedman.

"How pretentious some of these short films are," commented Briget Foley, columnist for WWD, the fashion bible. "This digital fashion week makes the model of the real show relevant, even essential."

"I am entirely digital, but for me it's not good," said critic Diane Pernet, who also directs the ASVOFF fashion film festival, to AFP.

- Teasers -

"Digital language is not something that belongs to me, it is generational," confided to AFP the artistic director of Dior Maria Grazia Chiuri's women's collections.

It is the Italian director Matteo Garrone ("Pinocchio", "Dogman", "Gomorra") who staged his haute couture miniature dresses in a dreamlike world populated by nymphs and mermaids.

Highlight of this Parisian edition, the 10-minute film has more than 3.7 million views.

The Chanel haute couture collection came down to a teaser-like clip of 1 min 22 sec (more than 400,000 views).

The designer of the Louis Vuitton men's collections, Virgil Abloh, did not reveal any part in a short film with animated figurines, explaining that he had rethought the way of making and showing.

Its collections will now be recycled and itinerant and that expected Friday in Paris will be unveiled on August 6 in Shanghai during a parade.

Ditto for Valentino: a micro-clip to announce that his couture collection will be presented in a live performance in Rome on July 21, in the Cinecittà studios.

- Time saving -

"I am a great defender of traditional parades. I miss everything I can bring through parades. Even if I am very proud of the documentary that we made, it does not replace emotion at all", indicates to AFP Kris Van Assche from Berluti. In his film, he dialogues with the American ceramist Brian Rochefort whose works inspired this collection from the house of French luxury.

"Nothing brings as much emotion as a live fashion show in which you feel the electricity of the creative moment, the deadline, the adrenaline," confirms the CEO of Dior Pietro Beccari.

Dior is also preparing one, without guests, on July 22, in the central square of Lecce, in the south of Italy, for a "cruise" collection.

But for small brands, online Fashion Week can have advantages, underlines Laurent Coulier, buyer of the men's collections of the French department stores Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais.

"In terms of saving time, it's extremely interesting. It allows us to see collections every half hour and to be able to see them all. With the fashion shows, it is difficult to have a global vision of the market," explains he at AFP. "There are brands that we don't collaborate with and that can make you want to discover them".

For known brands, this is an opportunity to show originality, according to this buyer, who cites the example of the presentation of Y / Project showing how to wear the same garment "transformed" in different ways.

"What is a bit lost," he concedes, "is the personal feeling that one can have when one is invited to a particular place" for the parade.

"The parades must come back: the clothes, their fall, the fabrics must be seen," concludes Paul García, founder of the Spanish men's clothing company Oteyza.

© 2020 AFP