'Watch the holes'! Paris fashion crowd gets to know building sites
The appeal was evident again during the just-concluded Paris Men's Fashion Week, where designers sought out stripped-back buildings to showcase their creations.
The lower rental prices compared with a plush hotel or cultural venue might also explain their popularity at a time when the industry has been struggling with reduced demand.
"There has been a real trend in recent years towards using raw venues where there are only the load-bearing walls and nothing else," Rod Reynolds, a location scout from the Records Collection company, told AFP.
Since 2017, he has been sourcing unusual spaces for a number of fashion houses such as Chloé, Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney.
Among his loyal clients is the Dries Van Noten label.
Last Thursday, the Belgian brand presented its collection on the first floor of an under-construction building in the south of Paris —- a venue found by Reynolds.
Just days earlier, the space had been nothing more than a 1,500-square-metre (16,000 sq ft) empty floor area, with exposed concrete beams, damaged walls and a cracked floor.
On the day itself, there was little sign of that.
Large black curtains were hung on either side, one concealing the windows, the other marking off the backstage area.
Two rows of chairs lined the runway, with spotlights suspended from the ceiling.
The irregularities in the floor, however, remained.
"Watch out for the holes!" one guest warned another about the hazard for stilettos.
Contrast
Since the Covid pandemic, demand for this type of venue has "exploded", Rod Reynolds said -— a view shared by his colleague Benjamin Roussel, founder of Subspaces.
Last June, Roussel identified a car park awaiting redevelopment for a show by Israeli designer Hed Mayner.
Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck, having previously occupied an empty office block in northern Paris, used a former Paris university building for his show this last season.
According to the location scouts, the success of such austere settings lies in their aesthetic, practical and economic value.
"What’s nice is really the contrast between something very clean and something a bit dirty, a bit raw," explained Roussel.
There is also a practical advantage: venues with no pre-existing decor, and therefore fewer constraints.
They are also less expensive.
"Compared with the Palais Brongniart (the former stock market building used by Hermes last Saturday), which has a similar capacity of 500 to 600 people, they are half the price," the specialist explains.
Theatre
French property company Covivio has been offering buildings under renovation or standing empty for hire for the past two and a half years, a way of creating value while they await redevelopment.
Dries Van Noten was its first client.
In April 2023, the veteran Belgian designer, who has since stepped back from the label, visited the former headquarters of telecoms group Orange and fell in love with the building.
He decided to "create a collection entirely inspired by the building’s facade and to hold his June show there", recalled Celine Leonardi, the group’s marketing and customer experience director.
Since then, Covivio has opened other sites, such as a former postal sorting centre built in the 1900s in the heart of Paris, which has hosted 23 shows in a year and a half.
French label AMI organised a concert there for its January 2025 show, while Lacoste installed sand, tennis nets and giant screens during the October 2024 Fashion Week.
For French sociologist Emilie Coutant, the trend fits into a longer tradition.
Fashion shows rely on a "fundamental theatricality" that requires designers to "continually reinvent themselves by seeking out new locations", she told AFP.