Pierre Hardy Reflects on Fashion’s Evolution: ‘Nothing is Forbidden Now’

After two decades, Pierre Hardy continues to play by his own rules.

“I have only done things that I enjoy and love,” the designer said at his Paris Fashion Week spring ’20 presentation today, adding that fashion is always in motion, and he doesn’t often stop to think about the past.

Here, Hardy sounds off on why nothing is forbidden in fashion now and why comfort should be a given.

Designing comfortable shoes:

“I don’t think it needs to be something you talk about. It just means I’m doing my job. [Comfort has] to be there first, and then I don’t have to think about it. If you’re wearing the shoes, you shouldn’t have to think about the way you walk. You will never be as comfortable in a high stiletto, but women are ready to adapt to that for an hour or two — up to a point.”

The lack of pumps at the presentation:

“There’s one. People don’t really come to me for that. I love them though. My first shoe was a pump, the Blade heel.”

The sneaker equation:

“It’s stable; it’s just a way of life now. Maybe people will buy [fewer] sneakers from designers, but they still buy Nike or Converse. Now you buy sneakers like you buy a T-shirt. This season, I think there’s more femininity now, lightness, joy. We’re not in a moment of ‘It’s this or nothing else.’ Fashion is more open now. Nothing is forbidden. Music and art are like this too.”

His 20th anniversary:

“Fashion is always in motion, so I know it’s 20 years, but you’re always projecting to the next thing. I feel really lucky. When I started, I didn’t know [what would happen]. You never know. You’re starting from scratch. You’re starting from zero. I only have done things that I really enjoy and love. This is what you can say afterwards — you don’t think about it when you’re doing it. I haven’t celebrated my own [birthdays] since I was 22. I don’t really stop and think about it.”

For more from Pierre Hardy’s spring ’20 collection, click through the gallery.