Ready-to-wear, summer 2021: Catwalk shows return to Paris Fashion Week

This year, three strong messages were conveyed at Paris fashion week: at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri once again flaunts her feminist credentials, Marine Serre embraces recycling, while Dawei advocates for courtesy and respect. The Chinese designer chose to self-quarantine, on the remote off chance he’s brought coronavirus back from Beijing.

Fashion is always one season ahead, defined by its link to the disruptions that push our society forward. For its winter 2020 ready-to-wear collections, Chanel sends both slim and voluptuous models down the catwalk; black and white women dressed as musketeers. Balmain rethinks the very concept of the bourgeoisie, while Nigerian designer Kenneth Ize joins his South African colleague Thebe Magugu in turning to his roots for inspiration. Last but not least, Japanese designers Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto

In this edition of Across Africa we take you to eastern Ethiopia where refugees from kenya's Kakuma camp are finally coming home motivated by recent political and economic reforms. We also head to Angola where the country is tempting more lovers of its romantic Kizomba dance. Finally, we speak to Thebe Magugu, South African designer and 2019 LVMH prize winner as he exhibits for the first time at Paris Fashion week.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee agree that the Olympic Games will be rescheduled no later than the summer of 2021.

The first-ever online Paris fashion week clicks off with the world of runway shows thrown into an existential crisis by the coronavirus. Dior has replaced its usual runway show with a short film by Italian Director Matteo Garrone, showcasing a miniature collection.

In an online message to mark the start of Paris Fashion Week, British supermodel Naomi Campbell ushered in a new age of digital fashion, while also embracing the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement. In these extraordinary times due to Covid-19, runway fashion shows are banned, with designers instead releasing videos on social media to showcase their collections, directed by an array of impressive names. We take a look at how this form of French soft power is moving with the times.

As the world of fashion mourns the death of Kenzo Takada, Paris once again plays host to real-life fashion shows. Under the leadership of creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Kenzo sounds the alarm over the destruction of global bee populations. At Dior, meanwhile, Maria Grazia Chiuri explores the way clothes are now more in the private sphere than ever before. And Nigerian designer Kenneth Ize uses his catwalk show to send home a defiant message: the celebration of his queer identity.

No one really knows what next summer will bring, but one thing's for sure. When it comes to ready-to-wear fashion, there's a choice between two standout trends: streetwear and drapery. Will the seductive volumes of Yohji Yamamoto carry the day, or will it be the often tongue-in-cheek style of Prune Goldschmidt? Or will it be a choice between the form-hugging creations of Malian-Senegalese designer Lamine Kouyaté and the relaxed "street couture" of Christelle Kocher? FRANCE 24 takes a closer look.

There were no spectators, no influencers, no fashionistas, at Saint Laurent's presentation of its 2021 Women's Summer collection, only drone footage of models walking on the crest of a tall sand dune in the middle of a honey-coloured desert. Every year, France's top fashion houses compete to find the most spectacular locations in Paris to host their women's wear shows, but with catwalks closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, brands now try do outdo each other with spectacular locations for their online-only shows.

Covid-19 restrictions mean that Paris Fashion Week is taking place in the digital sphere. In-the-flesh fashion shows, interviews and parties aren't happening – instead, buyers and journalists get to sit back and watch a series of films via social media. So how are these films made? We spent 72 hours with Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, a young Parisian designer whose collection, shown at the Palais de Tokyo, is inspired by Franz Kafka's book "The Trial" and brought to life with the help of choreographer Sohrâb Chitan.

Haute couture at its best is a dazzling array of possibilities. It's also increasingly an artform being expressed through the medium of film, with in-person fashion shows still off-bounds thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato has embraced new techniques both inspired and showcased by model-turned-activist Lauren Wasser, who lost both her legs to toxic shock syndrome. Meanwhile, Italy's Sofia Crociani finds inspiration in cognitive experiments from the 1950s and '60s that tracked the effect of LSD on spiders.

Mirror, mirror on the wall… who's the fairest of them all? Dior’s sumptuous and subversive film for next autumn's ready-to-wear offerings suggests the answer isn't a simple one. With in-person fashion weeks still cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the film was shot inside Versailles's world-famous hall of mirrors. Maria Grazia Chiuri takes us deep into a world of fairy tales with the help of a challenging set from Italian artist Silvia Giambrone, set off by choreography from Sharon Eyal.