Fashion Week is one of the most creatively charged times of the year, but the creativity doesn’t start as soon as that first model walks out – and no we’re not talking about the months and months of prep, we’re talking about show invites. It may seem like a minor detail to some, in comparison to the insane amount of work that goes into making the actual collection, but a show invite is the first thing an attendee will see. It sets the tone for the show and it gives its invitees a fun little memorabilia to keep – or resell for a silly amount to those niche collectors.
JACQUEMUS LOVES A BITE
We all know and love Jacquemus for its summer in the South of France dreamy aesthetic on the runway (and even sometimes the runway itself), and the dream keeps on giving through the invites. For SS20, attendees received a mini sunscreen bottle, which we hope actually contained sunscreen as the shine was heavily beaming in that lavender field. For a Galerie Lafayette event earlier this year, Jacquemus sent out an encased piece of toast, butter knife and dollop of butter, imprinted with the brand logo of course. There was also a pack of Jacquemus letter pasta for its show in Como that you could actually cook.
MAISON MARGIELA JUST GETS ITS
Martin Margiela has always been a disruptive force in fashion, and so are the show invites, even after the OG designer left. From the very first show, SS89, invitees were sent a telegram telling them to head to a suburb of Paris – an unheard of location back in the days of Le Grand Palais-only shows. The somewhat mysterious allure of Margiela show invites continued, like for FW12 that came in the form of a laser projector that showed the address when turned on and pointed to a near surface, or for FW07 that came as a rubix cube. Let’s just hope no one messed up their rubix cube to the point of losing the address.
LOUIS VUITTON IS FUN BUT LUXURIOUS
Who said high fashion couldn’t have fun? Because LV sure does with its show invites. Virgil Abloh will always be remembered as a pioneering creative director at Louis Vuitton, but considering his passion for design in general, he knew what to do with those invites. For FW20, the invite consisted of a silver working clock. It’s not just a regular clock, it’s an Louis Vuitton clock, so nevermind those numbers, they were replaced with the LV Monogram. For SS22, Abloh gave us monogrammed board games, from a deck of cards to beer pong. There was also the “How to take a flight” invite for FW21 that got everyone who received the invite to build their own paper plane – but again it’s LV so make it luxurious.
FENDI JUST DOES THE MOST UNEXPECTED SH*T
Sometimes Fendi’s invitations will be heartfelt. For FW19, the Italian brand gave all of its attendees a heart-decorated F card with a black-and-red replica of Karl Lagerfeld’s personal signature, following his passing. Cute, right? And then there was a packet of pasta for SS21. But not just any pasta, double F Fendi-certified monogram-shaped pasta. Considering the Italian heritage here, it makes sense. Still can’t figure out which one of the two we would have preferred to receive (it’s the pasta).
BALENCIAGA WILDS OUT
If you’re going to host wild shows like Balenciaga, the invite better match, which it always does. One of the best ones will always be FW22’s one, where guests were given an old iPhone, some cracked, with the show invite details engraved at the back. There was also the wad of cash given for Resort 2023, the show that took place at the New York stock exchange. Cash and pocket items seem to be a running theme here, as for SS23 Demna gave all of his invitees a wallet with all the random sh*t you find in wallets – a French ID, crushed up receipts, loose coins and cash, random loyalty cards.
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