Fashion

They're key actors in the world of fashion – but rarely seen or heard. It’s the job of press officers to come up with innovative communications strategies to get the media to relay their brand's messaging. And then there's the small matter of getting customers to believe the brand is worth those hefty price tags. It’s complicated work that requires diplomacy, a way with words and audacity. FRANCE 24 finds out more.

Men have been taking to the catwalk for 50 years for fashion weeks in London, New York, Milan, and of course Paris. But buyers and fashion journalists alike have short attention spans. How to stay exciting year after year? Are traditional fashion shows always the answer? Simon Jacquemus prefers picnicking with his guests to organising a show, Olivier Rousteing mixes men and women for Balmain, while Thom Browne wraps decor and models in bubble wrap.

In fashion terms, Paris is haute couture, London is a byword for extravagance, and Milan and New York are where the business happens. So what about Berlin, 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall? The separation of East and West drew a wedge between friends and family, while reunification came with its own host of challenges. It’s a historical context that helped Berlin become a hotbed of countercultural expression. But three decades on from the fall of the Wall, is that still the case?

It’s no secret that fashion is an extremely polluting industry. For some, that’s been rather hard to admit - but the paradigm is shifting. These days, words like biodiversity and recycling are very much on trend. That’s as true for fashion industry events as it is for young up-and-coming designers. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look.

Based between Senegal and France, Adama Ndiaye is an unrelenting champion of Africa on the world stage. Not only is she the founder of Dakar Fashion Week and the Federation of African Fashion, these days she's also the brains behind Black Fashion Xperience here in Paris. It's a joyous celebration of an impressive range of designers, among them Mimi Plange (Ghana), Sakia Lek (Republic of Congo) and Tokyo James (Nigeria). "This isn't about colour, it's about culture", she told FRANCE 24.

Fashion produced by France costs an average 600 euros per piece, and earns the sector around 5 billion euros annually. It also requires the equivalent of some 2,000 tonnes of fabric. The cost to the environment is also big. But fashion brands are realising the need to become more ‘green friendly’. This year Dior’s show will feature trees later to be replanted around Paris, while Koché will show at the Pompidou’s public library, a nod to one of her earliest inspirations, books.

How do we reinvent fashion? Tackling the problem at its root means going back to the way it's taught: fashion schools are often elitist. So former journalist Nadine Gonzalez decided to create a French version of the school she established in the favelas of Rio to get people out of poverty. The idea: free tuition, with no qualifications required to get in. It's called Casa 93, a nod to the postcode in the Seine-Saint-Denis neighbourhood where the school is located. FRANCE 24 went to check it out.

To mark 30 years of France's Maison Mode Mediterranée, fashion designers and industry partners are looking ahead to the future of the sector. But before they consider replacing humans by artificial intelligence, up-and-coming brands have to get to grips with the daily challenges of running a label. The French company Atelier Bartavelle is a champion when it comes to sustainability, reviving local crafts from Mediterranean countries and providing a good example for other brands to follow.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, French fashion house Julien Fournié is unveiling its sponsors, Apple and Dassault Systems. But that's not to suggest for a moment that the digital world can supplant the extraordinary work of the couture workshops, producing unique piece after unique piece. Alexandre Vauthier takes a similar view. As for Jean Paul Gaultier, he's breaking with the past, and choosing to stay away from fur. But then again, the only constant with Gaultier is change.

Tunisia may still be seen as a producer of clothes rather than a designer, but that's slowly changing. For proof, look no further than the spectacular show put on by students at the Higher Institute of Fashion Trades of Monastir, or the collection for "real women" offered up by Ambre Aumoitte, a graduate of the Parisian fashion school Atelier Chardon Savard. Meanwhile, for Miriem Kebiri, in charge of leather goods at Atelier Lital, the real fight is still for equality between men and women.