The Highs and Not So Highs of My First Paris Fashion Week

I remember being eight years old, on Saturday mornings, watching the latest fashion collections via shows like “Fashion File” and “Videofashion” on E Entertainment TV. At that time, I could only dream of being able to go to Paris during one of the fashion weeks and that dream stayed on my mind well into adulthood. Fast-forward to the present, it is crazy how life tends to work out. I have been pretty transparent about how 2022 was a year filled with ups and downs for me. However, during that year I decided to take more steps toward living in my purpose (creating this website was a part of that). As we entered 2023, I wanted to make sure that I lived with a heightened level of intention. As such, one night I remembered that the menswear fashion shows were coming up in Paris and I began to consider making something I had only dreamed about a reality.

I said to myself, if I got an invitation to one event, big or small, I would book a flight. I reached out to no less than 30 brands, and only heard back from two; one was a “thanks for your interest but we are low on space,” the other was a confirmation – I remembered the deal I made with myself and immediately begin looking for flights. I decided to travel to Milan and then fly into Paris for a couple of days. The Milan leg of the trip was primarily smooth, however when I went to check my itinerary for my flight to Paris, I saw that it had suddenly been cancelled. Apparently, there was a strike happening across Paris that was impacting both air and train travel. Despite this I thankfully managed to find an Air France direct flight to Paris that would get me there in enough time to still have a full day in the city. Although it was more than I had planned to spend, I had no choice but to book it.

While the Milanese airport was a bit chaotic, my flight from Milan to Paris left on time. When we landed, I was filled with excitement, but I noticed it was taking quite a long time for the checked bags to arrive at baggage claim. Once the bags did arrive, I quickly realized that my suitcase was not among them; my heart dropped! This was definitely a memorable way to start off my first Paris fashion week, but the show had to go on. I traveled to my hotel, ran to Galleries Lafayette and the Zara near where I was staying, picked up some clothes and a pair of mules and dashed out to a few showrooms and presentations as I had already missed my first event due to the travel chaos (not without first getting a mirror photo of the fit I had thrown together though lol).

After treating myself to a Michelin star meal at a restaurant called Accents (highly recommended), I called it a night after praying for a better day two. When I woke up and discovered that my suitcase had indeed arrived in Paris and that it would be delivered to my hotel that morning, I was more than relieved. Once it arrived, I got dressed and immediately headed to the location of the Dior show. I decided to wear my red and white Casablanca swirl coat, black leather pants, a white button-down shirt courtesy of Allen Onyia’s Macy’s line, Saint Laurent boots and Tom Ford frames. When I hit the corner near the Place de la Concorde, a photographer came out of nowhere and began taking my picture – a sign of what I was about to encounter at the show site. When I got to the front area of the tent specially built for the show, there were photographers and spectators everywhere taking photos of all the over-the-top outfits worn by those milling about before the show began.

Like walking onto the campus of Morehouse (where I went to college) for the first time, I felt home. While I was not invited to the actual Dior show (or many shows for that matter), in that moment I knew without a shadow of a doubt that one day soon I would be. I felt proud of myself for taking the chance on myself and doing something that, in the past, I probably would have been too nervous to do. After all, I went to fashion week knowing no one and had to figure out so many things on the fly. I learned so much from this trip - how to approach my next [Paris] fashion week and more importantly how to continue to take more intentional steps toward making my dreams of working at the highest-levels in fashion a reality. Stay tuned as there is much more to come!

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