Fashion

The online world is increasingly an integral part of our lives, especially with the arrival of the metaverse. The world of fashion is eagerly eyeing up how the metaverse can be a place where we construct parallel identities, complete with digital wardrobes. But at what price? We get some answers from designer Julien Fournié, psychiatrist Serge Tisseron, as well as Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, co-founder of Arianee, a platform that helps brands create new digital experiences.

For decades, Tunisia has been seen as a producer of fashion, but rarely a producer of fashion designers. But that's rapidly changing. For proof, look no further than the 12th edition of Tunis Fashion Week, which this year was held not in the capital, but in the city of Tozeur, on the edge of the desert. We take a closer look at three larger-than-life Tunisian designers: Hedi Ben Mami, Seif Dean Laouiti and Braim Klei.

The year 2021 didn’t get off to a great start, to say the least. The Covid-19 pandemic had already brought the world as we knew it to a standstill, and this year – once again – Fashion Weeks from London to New York were struck from calendars in the same of social distancing. But nevertheless, fashion has always known how to adapt. A new-found focus on inclusive casting and sustainable processes has been the result. FRANCE 24 takes a look back at some of the year's fashion highlights.

The death of Black designer Virgil Abloh at the age of just 41 has served as a reminder that fashion still has a way to go when it comes to diversity. Abloh, an African American, studied civil engineering and architecture, but was increasingly drawn to the world of music and later set up his own streetwear label, Off White. In 2018 he was named head of menswear at Louis Vuitton, becoming the first Black man to become the lead designer of a major French fashion house. For Abloh, fashion was inherently political; a means of furthering the fight against racism. We took a closer look at his legacy.

French fashion businesses here in France tend to go one of two ways: either they fail, or they thrive, before being bought up by a powerful luxury group. But some companies do manage to resist that fate – weathering economic crises, the challenges of a globalised economy and now the pandemic, all on their own. So how exactly do they do it and what makes them tick? We went to meet independent shoemakers Arche in the Loire Valley and Paris-based Weston to find out.

For Mariusca La Slameuse and Spirita Nanda, fashion and music go hand in hand. The clothes they wear, just like the music they sing, are fundamental elements of their artistry. Both women live and work in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo. They're each famous as solo artists, but today they've joined forces to combat violence against children in the context of blended families. FRANCE 24 went to meet them.

Today, the fashion industry is increasingly waking up to the importance of acknowledging the full range of human experience in the clothes and messaging it puts out. Inclusion is in fashion and it's taking many exciting forms, from a catwalk show for amputees in Paris to a show by Parisian label Victoria/Tomas that uses the designers' mums as models, via a project that helps migrants pursue careers in textiles in France. FRANCE 24 brings you a round-up.

When she was only a teenager, Valerie Ka graced catwalks across the African continent as a model and muse. As her political consciousness grew, she became a flagbearer for contemporary African fashion around the world. Today, in a boutique hotel in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, she is overseeing the very first edition of her latest project: Share Africa.

After almost two years of empty catwalks, summer 2022's ready-to-wear collections were finally able to be shown in public, and designers rose to the occasion. Yohji Yamamoto's collection was all about the perils of climate change. But the standout feature of this season is an approach to fashion that privileges the female gaze, with Marine Serre, Dior and Isabel Marant all presenting clothes designed to be worn by women and enjoyed by women – rather than having men looking at them!

Florian, Antoine, Noémie and Juliette aren't students, they're interns. That's because at Casa 93, a non-fee-paying school for alternative fashion, there are no students, teachers or grades. It’s an approach that’s already bearing fruit on the outskirts of Paris. The school encourages collaborative working, overseen by industry professionals. The latest cohort of 20 young designers already have something to be proud of: a collaborative collection, accompanied by a film they’ve entitled "Inouï’" ("Unheard of"). We went to check it out.