Detecting weak signals and emerging trends to transmit prospective insights to the actors of the fashion sector… the fashion director of Première Vision, Pascaline Wilhelm tells us more about her work. Interview.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique : What is your role within Première Vision ?

Pascaline Wilhelm, fashion director of Première Vision : Me and my team are in charge of capturing trends at the international level. With the information that we collect we make fashion summaries, transmitted to our exhibitors so that they can integrate them into their collections, in complementarity with the data they find by themselves. We play the role of a 360° observer with a unique analyse offer because, each season, the exhibitors send us their products to select, in order to highlight them at our Première Vision, Blossom or Denim shows. We receive 15,000 fabrics per season, 5,000 leathers, tens of thousands of buttons, zips, etc. So we have in our hands the best of international creativity, which allows us to detect weak and strong currents, to accumulate the smallest signs, in order to obtain very constructed analyzes, that we communicate to the market, very quickly. These trends and concepts are then expressed, in our events, in various forms, images, films, scenographies, etc., so that our shows remain at the propectivist top of fashion evolutions.

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Première Vision, the book “Mode, matières et révolutions” (Fashion, materials and revolutions) was released last December, retracing its history, following the trends that have marked the flow of fashion. One of the chapters of the book is devoted to "ecological necessity". What is Première Vision's position on that subject ?

The environment is an issue that we have been dealing with for a long time and which materialized with a dedicated platform, Smart Creation, in 2015. We wanted to deepen the subject, by putting forward clear and precise solutions, to avoid all danger of greenwashing. Today, we can offer to the buyers verified industrial answers, from the raw material to the finished product, real answers that allow us to pollute less, consume less water, energy, chemicals and manufacture products as clean as possible, even if we don't live in an ideal world. At Première Vision, we highlight the most innovative initiatives in this area and we note that, recently, many quality new products have appeared which were not even on the agenda three years ago. The industries are adapting, like denim for instance, which is taking on the management of the ecological transition, in an extremely intelligent and serious manner. Last winter also revealed itself a significant step in terms of eco-responsibility. And for Spring-Summer 2021, there is no longer a single fashion proposition that is not available in its respectful version. Eco-responsibility is now a springboard for developing new things. For example, in leather, the fact of no longer using metallic products for tanning makes it possible to undertake color searches that did not previously exist. It's great, when you are creative, because it is not a question of saying to yourself : you have to do less, you have to do more bland to be ecological. We must not have a narrowed vision of eco-responsibility, which is neither sad nor boring but a positive constraint. Let's practice joyful eco-responsibility.

What about technology ?

Sport, with its fashion accessories and wearables in particular, is the most innovative precursor in terms of technology. Recycled polyesters, non-polluting nanotechnologies, biodegradable membranes but also connectivity, light, thermicity ... all this is the result of the sports companies investments in research and development. As sport is intimately linked to the body and well-being, these brands offer many eco-responsible products.

So, in such a context, could we say that it seemed logical to merge your two fashion tech and sustainable spaces, in one place dedicated to innovation, Smart Creation, during the last edition of Première Vision Paris, last February (to find out more, read this Boudoir Numérique paper here) ?

We are not here to fight against each other but to serve the future. We are fortunate to work in the fashion industry, where there are a lot of porosities, especially between technology and sustainability. We see this very clearly with the emergence of startups and new generations, we can no longer design a garment without thinking of eco-responsibility. And to get there, we need technology, we need artificial intelligence, we need to continue to miniaturize things, and it’s tech that will bring that. I am very optimistic for the future. The small seeds that we have sown are beginning to flourish. Exceptional fields of discovery open up to us. Things did not change in the 2000s, 10 years ago neither, but now it is finally moving.

* Première Vision Paris took place from February 11 to 13, 2020, at Parc des Expositions in Villepinte. Première Vision website is here. Smart Creation page is there.

* The book “Mode, matières et révolutions” (Fashion, materials and revolutions) by Lydia Bacrie and Charlotte Brunel was published by La Martinière on December 5 (240 pages, 49 euros).