The Philippines was represented at the Premiere Classe exhibition held for high-end fashion accessories at the Tuileries grounds in Paris from 2-5 March 2017.

Premiere Classe has been around for 25 years. The original Premiere Classe event, held at the Porte de Versailles, usually runs simultaneously with the lifestyle and furniture trade show Maison et Objet, held every September; it usually has around 900 exhibitors.

A more upscale event, Premiere Classe Tuileries happens every March and September/October and has been running for about five years; they have about 400 exhibitors every staging.

Both events are staged by the WSN Developpement in support of the fashion industry, a key sector in France.

For the March 2-5 staging of the Premiere Classe Tuileries, considered by many as the best show for fashion accessories in the whole world, one Filipino company, Mele+Marie carried the Philippine flag.

Mele+Marie is a Cebu-based manufacturer of upscale minaudieres which highlighted their shell-resin collection at their company-rented booth during the event.

Mr. Mel and Rosemarie Oamil (Second and fourth from left), designer-owners of the Mele+Marie, a Cebu-based manufacturer of minaudieres welcome visitors from PTIC-Paris Commercial Attache Froilan Pamintuan (leftmost) and representatives from at their booth at the Premiere Classe Tuileries last March 3.

There were designers of Filipino descent also who had their respective company booths including Rafe New York (USA); Ivy Kirshcner (USA); Zacarias1925 by Rita Nazareno (France); and Harvy Santos (UK).

This year’s edition covered three tents at the Tuileiries. Around 400 brands and designers featured their jewellery, shoes, leather goods and fashion accessories to an estimated 20,000 visitors.

Apart from Premiere Classe Tuileries event, there were other official side events such as the Capsule and the Man/Woman Fashion event, as well as fashion-related activities linked with the Paris Fashion Week.

This included pop-up events and fashion shows participated in by Filipino haute couture designers.

Participation at the Premiere Classe is considered tough with supposedly only the crème de la crème designers selected to exhibit at the Tuileries event by the organizers.

The Premiere Classe Tuileries is seen as a platform by designers to reach out to international buyers from around the world, not just from France, with buyers coming in from other parts of the world like the US, the rest of Europe, Middle East, and Asia.