[Rightguard]

Hugo and Gareth Heading to Paris Men's Catwalks

Godfrey Deeny
December 16th, 2008 @ 00:36 AM - Paris
Uber brand Hugo Boss will kick off the next Paris men’s collections in January and British wunderkind Gareth Pugh will make his foreign men’s debut in that season’s final show, underlining the French capital’s unique ability to attract major foreign talent.

“It’s our first time in Paris with Hugo and we are so exited. With our great designer Bruno Pieters, our product and fashion forward approach we feel we will synch very well in the calendar,” enthused Philipp Wolff, Boss’ global communications chief.

Hugo will open the season with a 10.30 AM show on Thursday, Jan. 22 in the Couvent des Cordeliers, a well known medieval show space located near the Sorbonne.

“We liked the space immediately and feel it’s perfect for Hugo, which we want to see presented more regularly on a calendar,” explained Wolff, marking a significant change in Boss strategy.

Wolff is one of the architects of Boss’ novel tactic of staging major one-off fashion spectaculars either in emerging seasons like Berlin, or in major fashion capitals like New York or Florence.

In October 2007, Julia Roberts and Julianne Moore sat front row in New York’s historic Cunard Building when Boss presented its Black collection, in a stylish dinner show one month after the Manhattan season. This past June, Boss Orange staged a immense runway show and dinner for 600 in a custom-made Gethsemane-style olive groove in a villa designed by no less than Michelangelo Buonarroti, just outside Florence during that city’s Pitti, the world’s top men’s wear trade fair.

“But we still plan some mega events,” cautioned Wolff, who confirmed Boss will stage a spectacular in Berlin, during that city’s next fledgling season, the week after Paris men’s shows end, though without going into details.

Gareth Pugh’s men’s show, scheduled as the final event in the four-day Paris season that ends January 25, will mark the first time this iconoclastic UK talent presents men’s fashion apart from his women’s designs.

Pugh staged a triumphant debut in Paris in September, though surprised many editors by just presenting women’s clothes, as his shows up until then had always featured both.

“We discovered after Gareth’s first separate women’s show that some of the men’s editors who came to the show in Paris felt left out. Some shops even bought the looser T shirts in the show, but in larger sizes for men,” explained Mandi Leonard, Pugh’s London PR.

Pugh, who will again present in the Palais de Tokyo, climaxes a season of 46 scheduled shows, which includes major brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Lanvin, Paul Smith and Hermes, trend setters like Dries Van Noten and Yohji Yamamoto and emerging avant garde talent like Juun J., Wintle, Petar Petrov and Julius.

“It’s a miracle that Gareth’s show is happening. We needed a slot on the calendar that worked for the Palais de Tokyo, and ended up getting the final show, which is a nice touch,” exclaimed Leonard.

“We think Gareth’s infrastructure and his great relationship with his factory in Italy means it’s easier to makes things happen. After our September show sales really got going,” added Leonard, noting that Pugh retails in over 20 stockists, including directional boutiques like Colette in Paris, Dover Street and Browns in London, Podium in Moscow and Maxfield in Los Angeles.

Boss, by contrast, boasted 2007 annual revenues of some 1.7 billion euros, and has never shirked from spending major bucks on shows. This January, Boss staged a mega event for Hugo, taking over Tempelhof Airport – the immense 1927 structure used to break the Soviet blockade during the Berlin Airlift. That fall 2008 collection marked the debut of Belgian-born Pieters at Hugo, the giant German brand’s most classic label.

in June 2007, Permira acquired Boss, after the UK equity fund won a fraught takeover battle for Valentino Fashion Group (VFG), the parent company of both Valentino and Hugo Boss. Observers had predicted that Permira would trim Boss’ substantial ad and events budget, but judging from the back-to-back Paris and Berlin events that has not turned out to be the case.

Source: FWD