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What is the front row at a fashion show?

The front row is the first row of seats at a fashion show, running along the runway, reserved for the house's most important guests: top-tier press, celebrities, major buyers and best clients. These seats cannot be bought: each house assigns them by name.

At fashion shows, guests are seated by row, and placement signals status: the front row, the first row facing the runway, goes to editors-in-chief, celebrities, major buyers and the house's best clients. Being seen there is as much part of the event as the collection itself. The front row is not for sale. At Paris Fashion Week (Spring-Summer 2027 ready-to-wear, September 28 to October 6, 2026), the official calendar shows are by personal invitation from the houses, and the site's access guides know only one route to the first row for anyone who is neither press nor a buyer: client status. Building a lasting client relationship with a house, with the same sales advisor and a significant purchase history, qualifies you for VIC status, which opens invitations to the shows and the front row. For the press, FHCM accreditation (free, via accreditation@fhcm.paris) grants access to the official calendar, but the invitation, and all the more so the row, remain at the discretion of each house's press office. The rule holds for the whole show, and first of all for its front row: no seat can be bought, it is earned through the relationship.

On the radar

Paris Fashion Week — house invitations: press offices & VICParis Fashion Week — Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2027

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