Can Small Labels Thrive in Paris?
Obegero partnered with Apple this season to create a fashion film, which he screened at the popular Parisian locale Silencio des Prés, followed by a conversation with filmmaker and journalist Loïc Prigent as well as a static presentation of his collection. Apple provided an iPhone to photographer Marcel Nestler along with director Kelly CWK to shoot Obegero’s lookbook and film, respectively, while each look at the presentation had an accompanying iPad showcasing the designer’s illustrations.
The designer told me he is doing away with wholesale altogether, moving to a made-to-measure approach. “I realized that wholesale is not a sustainable system for me at the moment,” says Obegero, “if there’s a store interested in us or in an exclusive collection, I am more than interested, but I want to focus on doing custom-made or made-to-order styles,” he continues. Bridal has become an important category for Obegero — as has dressing celebrities and performers. He also skipped the winter season in January. “It is extremely complicated to survive in this business. We can’t compete with the big brands, we need to go steady yet slower and make our own calendars,” says Obegero. “I’m dressing the biggest stars, yet I’m still working from home with a small home sewing machine. The reality of a young designer is not what’s shown or worshipped on Instagram.”
Making noise
At the same time, big brands are only getting louder, more flashy — especially in Paris. Unlike in cities such as London or New York, where smaller brands are shaping fashion and the adjacent cultural landscape — think Sandy Liang’s bow craze in New York, or the buzz of someone like Mowalola in London — the Parisian heavyweights have the deepest pockets and are set on making their shows exist outside themselves. It is part of a bigger push to make the brand a key part of culture.
Small brands aren’t afforded that same ability. Obegero has had the chance of being part of massive cultural moments, like Styles’s ‘As It Was’ music video or Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, yet, as it pertains to the Paris Fashion Week landscape, his presence is muffled by the big guys he’s up against.
Still, independent brands are betting on Paris as their best option to make a splash in the menswear space. A few weeks ago, I met the (deservedly so) mythologised Evan Kinori, a menswear designer based in California. Kinori has made a name for himself in the menswear circle for his slow and craft-driven approach to fashion. He operates a retail store in San Francisco, though he shows his collections in Paris twice a year to wholesalers. “It’s not worth fighting against that,” says Kinori. The system works, he explains, and industry people are already there and primed for discovering and embracing new designers.
This is why it’s important for these designers to take an off-centre approach during the week. Obegero’s presentation was well attended and well received. This shift allows designers like him to continue to be a part of the circuit in a way that makes sense for the current shape of his business. Paris may not currently be the city where independent designers have it the easiest, but if they’re savvy enough to cut through the noise, they can be sure to make an impact. Maybe not during fashion week, but certainly beyond. Isn’t that what matters most?
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Key takeaways from Paris Fashion Week Men’s
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