How high fashion is embracing diversity, as seen at Paris Haute Couture Week autumn/winter 2023-24
- An influx of Middle Eastern, African and Asian designers at the recent Paris Haute Couture Week shows an effort to spotlight a greater diversity of talent
- They included Lebanese designer Jad Hobeika, recently worn by Beyoncé and for whom Chinese actress Fan Bingbing walked the Paris runway
Widely recognised as the pinnacle of French fashion and culture, haute couture has marked Paris as a global centre of luxury and taste since the reign of King Louis XIV (1643-1715). But is the future of this high fashion embracing a multicultural shift?
The shows at autumn/winter 2023-24 Haute Couture Week in Paris spotlighted a more diverse cast of designers than usual. It wasn’t just French or European names; there was an influx of AAPI (Asian-American and Pacific Islander) and BIPOC (black, Indigenous, people of colour) designers showing in and around the official schedule.
Lebanese designer Jad Hobeika, the co-creative director of Georges Hobeika, the eponymous luxury fashion house founded by his father, is one of the creatives benefiting from this shift.
As part of the official Paris Haute Couture Week programme, the house showcased a womenswear collection featuring sequins, fairy-tale-worthy gowns, opera gloves and headpieces, shown off by the likes of Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and Saudi supermodel Amira Al-Zuhair.
More recently, the brand was worn by none other than Beyoncé during her Renaissance world tour.
Hobeika says that while there has been progress in couture’s creative diversity, more work still needs to be done.
