AMI to stage live runway show in Paris Fashion Week

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Aug 28, 2020

Paris fashion house AMI has revealed plans to stage a live physical runway show in Paris in the upcoming season, the latest independent fashion brand to confirm it will stage a live co-ed catwalk event during the city’s next fashion month.

 
AMI thus joins fledgling French house, Koché, as the latest marque to guarantee it will stage an actual runway event, boosting the line-up at Paris Fashion Week. The next Paris women’s ready-to-wear season is scheduled to take place from Monday, September 28 to Tuesday, October 6.
 
“In my view, the only real way to present a collection is via a real défilé. Clothes have to be seen on a human body, on a live mannequin so one can truly appreciate how they hang, and how they move,” AMI’s founder and creative director Alexandre Mattiussi told FashionNetwork.com.
 
Mattiussi revealed that it will be an outside show and is awaiting authorization from the Paris prefecture before revealing the exact location in Paris.
 
“Yes, it will be an exterior event; so we hope it will be sunny day! And we have to stage this for very few people – 150 people at the maximum. Bien sûr, respecting social distancing and everyone wearing a mask,” stressed the designer.
 
After working for both Christian Dior, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, Mattiussi founded his house a decade ago this autumn, growing it into one of France’s hottest labels; a beguiling blend of understated French chic and Parisian nonchalance.
 
Like many French brands AMI forced to take a runway hiatus during the Covid-19 crisis and did not participate in the Paris digital season this summer.
 
“When I realized we couldn’t do a real show in June, I decided it was better not to speak, or even do anything digital. So, then decided to enter the women’s week in Paris. But, of course, we had to respect the calendar and there is always competition to enter that schedule. But, I am happy to say, the Fédération greeted with us open arms!” he explained.
 
The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), French fashion’s governing body, controls the official calendar of all the runway seasons in Paris for women’s ready-to-wear, menswear and couture. It is due to unveil its provisional calendar early next month.
 
The upcoming AMI show will also be fully co-ed. “Women and men 50/50 - allowing us to show the full amplitude of our collections. We already showed the menswear in a showroom and online to clients very well in July. For the women’s part we will also have a showroom in October in Paris,” he explained.
 
“Honestly, these are collections that I adore. The ideas are the fruit of a certain moment, of remote working; furloughs and factories working part time. But the result is something particularly intimate. Truly very AMI, and with more poetry and romanticism,” Mattiussi concluded.