Paris Fashion Week: With Matter and Shape, design emerges as a growth driver for fashion
By doubling the number of visitors to the tents in the Jardin des Tuileries during the March 2026 Paris Fashion Week, the Matter and Shape trade show, organised by WSN, has demonstrated the growing porosity between fashion and design.
This is not a new phenomenon. Back in 2019, for the Galerie Kreo, Virgil Abloh reinterpreted the design of the metal chairs in the Jardin des Tuileries by removing one leg. He thus gave the object a new status, somewhere between design, art and fashion.
Seven years later, during the March 2026 Fashion Week, Jonathan Anderson for Dior built on the concept and sent out a miniature version of this chair as an invitation to his autumn/winter 2026/2027 show.
As fashion embraces lifestyle, design appears to be the ideal way to solidify a brand's universe. The Matter & Shape trade show is proof of this.
Attendance at the Tuileries tents doubled thanks to Matter & Shape
“From the outset, the Matter & Shape trade show was created to explore the boundaries between fashion and design,” Mathieu Pinet, director and founder of the Matter and Shape trade show, explained to FashionUnited. “The project stemmed from the observation that a design and object dimension was missing during Paris Fashion Week. The idea is to create a dialogue between different creative industries: fashion; design; cinema; and perfume.”
The first edition (March 2024) brought together 30 exhibitors. The second featured 62, and the March 2026 edition had 73, signalling the exponential enthusiasm for this event. Around ten exhibitors directly embody the link between fashion and design.
Frédéric Maus, director of WSN and organiser of Premiere Classe and Matter and Shape, provides concrete figures on this edition's performance: “The arrival of the design show has doubled the total attendance at the Tuileries site. Premiere Classe has between 12,000 and 15,000 visitors, and Matter and Shape has around 13,000. Between 20 and 30 percent of visitors attend both shows, demonstrating a porosity between the fashion and design audiences.”
Matter and Shape: fashion looks to design, and design is receptive
Fashion brands are only accepted when a genuine bridge to design exists. Thus, after showcasing furniture by Rick Owens and Charlotte Chesnais, the March 2026 edition featured the following names.
Serax, a Belgian tableware company with which Ann Demeulemeester collaborates. This is a typical case of a fashion designer who has left fashion to pursue design.
Lemaire's participation with Ark Kollekt, a curation platform, involved an installation/selection of objects and furniture presented by the gallery, intended to illustrate the dialogue between fashion and design.
Cour, a young French furniture brand, creates a dialogue with fashion brands by inviting designers to create domestic objects.
Jewellery brand Shihara has designed tables/chairs for its boutique furniture.
Marimekko is a concrete example of a house known for its fashion textile patterns that has extended its expertise to furnishing fabrics.
Finally, in an expansion into other creative industries, director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers, etc.) designed a space and objects (mirrors, carpets) for Lobmeyr, an Austrian luxury crystal and glassware house.
In itself, the convergence of fashion and design is not a break from the past, but rather a revival of a tradition rooted in the decorative arts. Moreover, concept stores have helped to break down categorical barriers by combining clothing, objects and furniture in a single space.
This evolution responds to a transformation in consumer habits as well as to the development of brand universes. The Matter and Shape trade show helps to institutionalise this dynamic by providing a framework where these disciplines can meet.
Is Fashion Week transforming into a broader ecosystem where fashion and design interact? The question is worth asking. In any case, it is a new language that fashion insiders will need to learn to stay current.
This article was translated to English using an AI tool.
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