After four seasons, German designer Wolfgang Joop is saying adieu to New York Fashion Week and shifting his Wunderkind show venue to Paris. As part of the official show calendar, Wunderkind will make its Paris debut Oct. 1 in the Palais de Chaillot. A Paris market showroom will open in Salle Erard. Timing prompted the decision, said managing director Edwin Lemberg. "We loved New York. We were well received, and Wolfgang still has his apartment there. But technically, because of shipping and Customs, the New Yorkers had two or three more weeks [to prepare] than we did. The poor guys from Brandenburg were always the first to have to be finished," he quipped.
The Paris move is part of a wider international expansion of the Potsdam, Germany, fashion house. Wunderkind is putting the finishing touches on a Milan showroom, on the corner of Via Montenapoleone and Via Verri, and has set up a sales office in London for the U.K., North American and Northern European markets. Karim El-Barbari, formerly senior vice president of DKNY, has been named to the new position of brand president.
