Paris has hit headlines this July, not for the Haute Couture shows which began on 3 July, and usually grip headlines in the summer months, but for the nation-wide riots which followed the police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk last Tuesday.
There is usually a frenetic buzz thanks to the influx of A-listers and street style types for couture, not to mention the dizzying proposal of gowns which can take hundreds - even thousands - to create, but the mood at the beginning of this fashion week was hindered. After a mourning service for the late teenager on Saturday, the worst uprising France has seen since 2005 continued, luxury brand’s boarded their windows along the capital’s famed shopping street Champs-Elysées, making the usual hub for the high net worth couture clients more danger zone than designer.
