Simon Porte Jacquemus is known for staging his shows in extraordinary locations all over the world. After putting on a so-called “impossible show” last season at the legendary Casa Malaparte in Capri, the designer announced he’d be returning to Paris and the official Paris Fashion Week calendar. But Jacquemus’s spring 2025 show will not be your standard runway fare; instead the designer will be taking over an apartment that belonged to the French architect Auguste Perret.
“I’m used to very big shows with big locations, but I’m obsessed with this flat,” he explained on a recent phone call, describing the stunning 360 views of Paris that characterize the location. “It is going to be a very small show with just 45 guests. I wanted it to be almost like a presentation, they will feel the dresses on them as the models walk by.”
But then, how to convey this same feeling of intimacy to his fans around the world—and make sure that his 7 million followers on Instagram feel included too? Enter the iPhone. “Jacquemus, the brand, was built on an iPhone. If you think of my early days: sharing pictures of my showroom, my best friend, my shows. I was taking pictures with my iPhone and it was a very easy way to interact with my audience; so I came up with this idea of just filming the show with iPhones and no humans.”
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The “no humans” part doesn’t mean robots (we asked); instead the phones will be strategically placed around the apartment—17 so far in the latest experiment—that will allow the viewers at home to experience the clothes—and the work of Perret—up close and personal. “We can place iPhones in places where we usually would not be able to have [a camera],” Porte Jacquemus added. “We can place an iPhone to reflect off of a mirror which adds a lot of poetry, it’s really nice.” Although the fall 2024 show at Casa Malaparte required above all the participation and compliance of Mother Nature, Porte Jacquemus confesses this one feels more risky. “We had another option for a bigger place, but I never like an option B,” he said. “This was kind of hard to get and it’s beautiful and I think, for the lovers of architecture, it’s really a diamond.” No fashion show has ever been held here before.
As for the 45 real-life guests, they shouldn’t worry—they will still be able to take their own photos with their own iPhones.
