5 things to expect from Paris Fashion Week FW25 Women's

After London and Milan, Fashion Week continues its journey to the City of Light. For nine days, French fashion will show the global fashion scene what it’s made of through 71 runway shows and 37 presentations. Between the unveiling of a new Valentino collection by Alessandro Michele, Sarah Burton’s debut at Givenchy, Loewe’s format change returning to the fashion week calendar with a presentation, and the official rise of promising new French names, the upcoming week is already looking vibrant. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves—before discovering all the surprises that the new FW25 collections have in store for us, let’s go over five key things to prepare for before the Paris Fashion Week kickoff.

1. Sarah Burton’s debut at Givenchy

Last September, while the game of musical chairs among creative directors was still relatively calm before a series of shake-ups, the appointment of British designer Sarah Burton as the new artistic director of Givenchy was announced. After 13 years of dedicated work at McQueen, she will make her debut at Givenchy on Friday, March 7. Known in the fashion community for her meticulous and artisanal approach, complex silhouettes, and innovative designs, Burton’s appointment was warmly welcomed—especially considering the brand’s need for change after Clare Waight Keller’s tenure, which somewhat stripped Givenchy of its couture identity. The fashion sphere is eagerly counting down the days until this highly anticipated debut. Just eight more sleeps to go.

2. Loewe’s format change

Absent from the last Paris Fashion Week, Loewe is making a grand return to the Parisian fashion scene—but not in the way we expected. Its creative director Jonathan Anderson has decided to put runway shows on hold for now, replacing them with a presentation. On Monday, March 10, from 10 AM to 6 PM, the FW25 collection will be showcased in a static format through a co-ed presentation, making up for the brand’s absence from January’s menswear fashion week. While Jonathan Anderson, both at Loewe and his own label JW Anderson, rarely disappoints, let’s hope that the static nature of this upcoming collection doesn’t have a dulling effect on its audience.

3. A new Valentino Collection by Alessandro Michele

After unveiling his first collection for the Roman house in a surprise lookbook released last June (on the same day as Gucci’s show), Alessandro Michele has continued to both amaze and confuse us. Admittedly, no one expected minimalist and simple collections (thankfully so, as it’s precisely his exuberance that makes us love Michele). However, his latest Couture collection for Valentino, presented in Paris last January, left us somewhat perplexed. If his Haute Couture line already featured heavy, thick fabrics and an abundance of velvet, we can’t help but wonder what he has in store for the fall-winter season.

4. Coperni and its LAN Party

After raising the bar with their show at Disneyland, Vaillant and Meyer, the founders of Coperni, continue to surprise us with a show set in the heart of a LAN Party. On Saturday 9 March at 8.30pm, the fashion world will be putting aside its principles and values for an evening to immerse itself in a geek universe that is usually far removed from the glitz and glamour of fashion. Big fans of video games such as ‘The Legend of Zelda’, ‘Valorant’ and ‘League of Legends’, the couple will be presenting a collection designed to take us back in time, this time not to Disney's world of candyfloss, candy apples and magic, but to the 90s, when video games were slowly making their way into the mainstream. According to one of Coperni's founding fathers, the autumn collection will be an extension of the brand's 90s-inspired pre-autumn line, fusing its techno-chic aesthetic with utilitarian details such as technical pockets and harness belts inspired by popular films such as ‘Hackers’ and ‘Tomb Raider’. In addition to this, Vaillant has officially declared that the next fashion show will feature a series of ‘surprises’. Does this mean another superstar, crazier partnerships or new materials and innovations from Coperni? Until 9 March, all bets are off.

5. The LVMH Prize 2024 winner’s show

Among the emerging French fashion names on this season’s schedule—Loulou de Saison, Christopher Esber, Matières Fécales, and Icicle—one stands out: Hodakova, the brand of young designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson, winner of the latest LVMH Prize. Based in Stockholm, she launched her namesake brand in 2021 with a mission to create the first 100% sustainable fashion house. Her mission is not just to create ecologically responsible clothing, but above all to change the way people perceive fashion, by offering pieces created from existing products. She gives a second life to the most mundane everyday objects, such as belts and silver spoons, transforming them with the flick of a scissors and a needle into sumptuous dresses and accessories, in a simple yet luxurious approach to recycling. Her fashion goes against the grain of fast consumption, and seeks to weave a strong bond between the item and the person who owns it, creating a stronger sentimental value and a thoughtful, downwardly revised way of consuming. For Ellen Hadakova, quality over quantity, craftsmanship and excellence are the watchwords, and creativity goes hand in hand with sustainability. Let's see how she has managed to combine high-flying fashion and respect for the environment in her FW25 collection. Let’s see how she fuses high fashion with sustainability in her FW25 collection.