Paris Fashion Week is an apparel trade show held semi-annually in Paris, France with Spring / Summer and Autumn / Winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the French Fashion Federation. Currently, Fashion Week is held in the Carrousel du Louvre, as well as at various other venues throughout the city.
Paris Fashion Week is part of the Big 4 fashion weeks internationally, the others being London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. The schedule begins with New York, followed by London, and then Milan, and ending the events in Paris.
In 2013, Paris Fashion Week (Fall / Winter season) starts February 26 with Moon Young Hee, and will be followed by shows from major fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Comme des Garçons, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, and more. These runway shows are held to show the fashion industry what the various labels will be releasing and to increase sales for the brands. The best models are featured in the shows, and catwalks must be perfected for them.
In addition to Ready to Wear shows, there are Men's and Haute Couture shows, which are held semiannually for the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter seasons.
Famous quotes containing the words paris, fashion and/or week:
“Beloved, may your sleep be sound
That have found it where you fed.
What were all the world’s alarms
To mighty Paris when he found
Sleep upon a golden bed
That first dawn in Helen’s arms?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Through this broad street, restless ever,
Ebbs and flows a human tide,
Wave on wave a living river;
Wealth and fashion side by side;
Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“A woman would be wise to think it well
If once a week you only rang the bell.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)