When viewing all these glossy runway pictures, it’s hard to get a sense of where a designer fashion show takes place. One would think that these spectacular events—especially the tres important Paris shows—would take place in some elitist address far away from the fray. But in fact, these fashion extravaganzas take place at the biggest tourist-magnet in town, the Louvre.
Outside the Carousel du Louvre
While some are held in tents outside the museum, the majority of shows are actually in Le Carousel du Louvre, which is underneath the storied site—along with the museum’s mini-mall and food court. All the tony editors, buyers, and VIPs have to bypass back-pack toting school kids, flag-wielding tour guides, and hungry museum employees to get to the shows, which makes for quite a funny scene.
The Louvre pyramid touches down near the museum’s mini-mall
And, when they arrive at the subterranean location, they have to go through airport-like security; there’s even two gentlemen on hand to go through the style set’s It-bags.
Security at the Louvre
After successfully negotiating past this series of security guards, show attendees will find themselves face-to-face with a mob of photographers who care less about bold-faced names than they do interestingly dressed guests. Wacky outfits result in strobe-like flashes while conservative outfits barely earn a click, as many of these shutterbugs shoot for Japanese magazines which consist entirely of street-style shots. I caught up with a few photographers to get their take on the shows and who they liked to shoot.
Unsurprisingly, they deemed Vogue editors to be the chicest, but interestingly enough, name-dropped Alexander Wang and Phillip Lim when asked to who their favorite US designers were. (Hmm. Should Calvin and Ralph be worried?)
Later, I crossed paths with another cool photographer who had good eye for fashion, even though her geek-chic glasses didn’t have lenses. Could faux specs be the next big thing?
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