A fashion show is always a must to discover the latest trends of a brand.

For years, the presentation has been blending with culture to offer moments filled with poetry between creations and performance. Each year, the big names in fashion compete with ideas and inventiveness to make their guests live a suspended moment. But with the emergence of social networks, a new phenomenon is taking the classic fashion show to the next level, attracting attention and spreading an instant message around the world: the stage and artistic performance. 

We all know the magical performances behind the Saint Laurent shows, a house that offers, every season, spectacular staging to its guests. A few days before each Paris Fashion Week, all eyes turn to the Place du Trocadero to detect the theme or the structure that will host the latest collection. From giant stunts in the center of Paris to the staging of a typical Parisian square this year, the brand never stops innovating to surprise its viewers, who will soon relay images that will be transported around the world in a few minutes, like the Men’s presentation in the desert last July. 

But the French brand is not the only one to try the technique of performance to seduce its customers. In Italy, let’s mention Dolce & Gabbana and their majestic fashion shows, Alta Moda, which take place in exceptional places, like the one of 2019 that had dropped its bags at the Temple of Concord, in Sicily, or this year’s historic staging in front of the cathedral of Syracuse for a moment out of time. Not to mention the gigantic performance of Moncler, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in Milan’s Duomo square, with no fewer than 700 dancers, 200 musicians, 100 choristers, and 952 models, a cast of 1,952 people corresponding to the year of the brand’s creation. 

At Coperni, technology fan Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant offered their guests a moment of pure poetry with Bella Hadid. On September 30th, the lights were shone on this fashion show with the spray dress. A beautiful nod to the unforgettable parade of the British brand, Alexander McQueen, in 1999, during which a model wearing a white dress was sprayed with paint with spectacular results. This one will never be marketed as the dress designed by Coperni. 

Recently, it was Tilda Swinton and the former director of the Palais Galliera, Olivier Saillard, who proposed a fascinating performance between archive pieces and a creative dialogue divided into several acts at the Fondazione Sozzani. An experimental project that never fails to make the Scottish actress capture the attention through her aura, with an unparalleled theatricality, sharing a tribute to Pasolini’s films and the various creations from his cinematic masterpieces. As the exchange progresses, the clothes are placed like works of art on Tilda Swinton, who transcends the discourse with lightness and grace. 

These happenings and cultural sharing have boosted the growth of the communities of these brands, because now, the fashion industry is stronger than the clothing itself, knowing that in general, only 10% of clothes presented will be produced. The fashion show becomes, in turn, the product of a flow of images that is instantly shared on social networks and will serve to recruit new subscribers; the latter will become customers to whom the brands will sell small parts or accessories and other gadgets. 

Thomas Durin