United Arrows’ Hirofumi Kurino Explains Why Japanese Buyers Will Not Attend Paris Men's Fashion Week 2016

After the devastating terrorist attacks that occurred throughout Paris last November, Japanese menswear buyers have decided to avoid the city of lights due to a government-issued travel warning. Co-founder of UNITED ARROWS Hirofumi Kurino confirmed this but assured all that it wouldn’t prevent them buying from Paris collections, setting up appointments with brands during the Milan week as an alternative. What’s interesting though is that Kurino also made note that buyers would be attending Paris from March 1-9 for the women’s ready-to-wear collections. Managing director of Lemaire, Bastien Daguzan, noted that the absence of Japanese buyers is a small scale disruption. He went on to say: “We respect the internal policies of our partners and we will find other solutions with them, so that they can view the collection anyway.” A spokeswoman for Saint Laurent also shadowed these observations, describing their absence as being “insignificant.” Others who are still taking part in the event have said that the most important thing to be done is not to exacerbate past instances of terrorism and to continue on with life as it was before. Namely, sit back and enjoy the Paris men’s collections.