The French Fashion Federation renews its digital offering

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 21, 2016

A revolution is under way within Parisian fashion's highest-ranking institution: the Fédération Française de la Couture, the French Fashion Federation, has renewed its website, increasingly embracing the digital domain. The Federation launched a series of new digital tools in conjunction with the menswear fashion week, which opened this Wednesday and is set to end on Sunday 24th January, featuring a mobile app and specific platforms for individual initiatives. 

When you access modeaparis.com, the French Fashion Federation's website, no major changes are evident on the plain homepage, featuring black and grey text on a white background. But on the right of the screen you now notice a series of scrolling colour images, which entice you to click on them.

It is a selection of Spring/Summer 2016 looks from the collections of some thirty brands, which the Federation is posting as they become available in stores. Formerly called 'En Avant Première!' (Preview!) the section has been renamed 'New Now'. In addition to images and a video clip, for each of the brands the section features a list of contacts and the names of the stores that distribute them.

Another interesting novelty is the section dedicated to Designers Apartment, which is accessible from the Federation's website. The section hosts images, texts, videos and other newsworthy content about the young designers who are selected for this programme, devised to support emerging stylists. The Designers Apartment showroom is managed by the Federation with the support of DEFI, the committee for the development and promotion of the clothing industry, and is held twice-yearly in March and October.

It is an effective way of shining the spotlight on the new generation of French designers, fostering its development and establishing links with the media and buyers.

Finally, following the example of the Italian organisers of the Pitti Immagine shows, the Federation too has launched a mobile app, a very useful tool for Fashion Week aficionados.

The app is called 'Paris Fashion Week' and is available at the Apple Store and Google Play. It enables users to "browse the official schedules of shows and events for Haute Couture, Ready-to-wear collections and Menswear, to view press contacts, to create a personal 'favourites' section and to discover the labels taking part in the New Now and Designers Apartment events," the Federation stated in a press release, noting how the app is "also present on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram."