The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode has announced a pivot to digital for the upcoming Paris Couture Fashion Week, originally slated from July 5-9, the goings will now commence on July 6 and carry through until July 8.

This step-change to digital was announced on the back of French fashion houses shifting men’s shows from June 23-28 to now: July 9-13 via online streaming platforms. Upended by the pandemic, couture shows will be first-movers into a multi-pronged virtual approach – traditionally dependent on a select number of clients who attend shows and place orders soon after, the exclusivity of couture has been scuttled and redesigned to be accessible by the masses (albeit for now).

“This event will be structured around a dedicated platform. The principle of the official calendar is maintained,” the federation said in a press release. “Each house will be represented in the form of a creative film/video. Additional content will be included in an editorialized section of the platform. All of this will be widely shared on the main international media networks.”

While 41 Maisons have the honor of maintaining a couture-grade certification, overseen by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, many will forgo the shift to digital, pushing shows out until early next year.

Jean-Paul Gaultier and Sacai’s Chitose Abe have suspended us in anticipation, tabling their collection until January 2021, a full year after Gaultier’s retirement. Demna Gvasalia, set to resurrect Balenciaga from a 52-year pause on couture, has also pushed his showing until January. The same goes for Giorgio Armani’s Armani Privé show which, after years of Parisian catwalks, will now be shown at his historical Milano headquarters in Via Borgonuovo.

Givenchy’s couture collection is likely in limbo as the spot of Clare Waight Keller remains unfilled, while Pierpaolo Piccioli and Valentino’s petite mains have yet to slot a date and time for the house’s couture showing, though publicly he has said it is underway.

For the remaining designers, July is a unique opportunity to translate the beauty of couture to the public, one that may not present again. “Couture is the life of dreams, of positivity, of beauty,” Piccioli told Vogue’s Hamish Bowles in late April, then adding. “We have a responsibility as designers – we have a voice, we have to give hope, we have to give lightness, and we have to believe in dreams.”