Couture is an ideas laboratory

People have questioned the point of couture for aeons, but during a cost of living crisis, few could be blamed for opining that it feels more irrelevant than ever. Add some Paris riots into the mix, sparked by the death of a teen at the hands of police, and Paris couture week 2023 seems particularly jarring. But while Celine cancelled its July 2nd menswear show (“a fashion show in Paris seems, from my sole point of view, inconsiderate” Hedi Slimane wrote on Instagram), the couture shows have gone ahead as planned, with Alaia, Chanel, Schiapparelli, Dior, Balenciaga and Valentino all taking place without incident, security no doubt beefed up, given Paris’s current predilection for staging shows on bridges. 

The guests’ responses have been both interesting and varied. Some editors have posted less on social media than they might normally do. Others have acknowledged the disconnect. Some have emphasised their support of Paris’s creative industries, citing that they need it more than ever. Others have acted like the riots simply didn’t happen. 

My own view is that couture is an ideas laboratory which, while fiendishly expensive, has value and meaning in the context of fashion, albeit value and meaning that might seem unfathomable to those outside the bubble. But fashion is too often a soft target for people’s ire. Don’t blame couturiers for wealth inequality and injustice. Blame governments.