Does Paris Fashion Really Have to Originate in Paris?

What do we think when we imagine Paris style? Working in Paris has always been aspirational for many fashion-driven young people. It's the home of haute couture, as well as being known for chic, timeless style. Paris has a very particular niche in fashion. However, are todays Parisian fashion houses really located in Paris? Are we buying the idea of Parisian chic or the real thing?

Céline AW2013

Let's take Céline, now under the creative eye of Phoebe Philo who has managed to fully revive the brand recently and reworked it's initial raison d’être, putting emphasis on it's elegance and very much polished look. These are words easily associated with Parisian style. However, Phoebe - though born in Paris - resides in Cavendish Square in London. With British parents, being raised in Britain and studying there, it seems peculiar how someone so quintessentially British is selling Paris fashion. The design manifesto remains the same so in a way Céline is the ideal of French fashion but not necessarily the real thing. Perhaps it's more of a fusion of British and French design that have created the new branding of Céline.

Saint Laurent AW2013

Secondly, Yves Saint Laurent, now known as Saint Laurent Paris is another example of this occuring in the fashion industry. YSL popularised the ever-so-French beatnik trend and the groundbreaking mix of masculine and feminine but always depicting French chic. Yves was always breaking rules in fashion and is still considered one of the most prestigious fashion visionaries. After Yves and Pierre Bergé's unfortunate demise, the brand has now been taken over by Hedi Slimane since 2012, and been rebranded as Saint Laurent Paris. Born in Paris to a Tunisian father and Italian mother, Hedi's design studio is in Los Angeles, rather than in the design house in Paris. As YSL originated as a brand which heavily relied on inspiration from underground subcultures in Paris, is it possible to recreate this in somewhere so remote to France? Or are we shown a faux-French chic?

I think that although both designers have attempted to retain the original Parisian chic that we know so well today, it is obvious that their surroundings have influenced their collections rather than in-keeping with the original brand. I think that although Céline still remains very chic and clean, there is no denying the esquestian British influences, and we cannot deny that in this most recent Saint Laurent collect that there is almost no hint of Parisian style, as it looks much more reminiscent of grunge culture.   I think in order to truly call yourself a Paris fashion house it's almost essential to have your designer based in Paris as how else are they going to get a real feel of what is happening in Paris at the time, the changing styles, to see what is going to bubble up. Though neither of what these two designers are making is inherently bad, but to call it Parisian seems very false.