Looking back on Paris Fashion Week 2018, it is fun to reflect on the undeniable allure of Paris. Maybe it is the Parisian lights. Maybe it is because it is the City of Love. But there is something that attracts Francophiles from all over the world. A long-time fashion hub, Paris has been winning the hearts of more and more American fashion designers. Traditionally, New York Fashion Week is the reference mark for American design. Yet in just the past year, American designers Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Thom Browne, and Joseph Altuzarra have opted to show their collections in Paris instead.

All of the Americans in Paris cited creativity as the major reason for relocating their spring and fall shows to Paris. Prior to Rodarte’s Paris Haute Couture Week debut last summer, co-founder Laura Mulleavy told The New York Times’s Elizabeth Paton: “I like being part of a new situation.” Co-founder Kate Mulleavy expanded:

“Ultimately a process should fuel creativity…France treats fashion as art; it just isn’t like that in America. Just spending time in [Paris], being part of it, is a reminder that enjoying new experiences fuels your best ideas and designs. Your imagination can totally come alive.”

Nevertheless, new opportunities also bring new legal issues. The initial question regarding work in France often is: Will I need visas or work permits for my American staff in order to show my collection in Paris? The good news: since 2016, if you are working in France for three months or less for the purpose of putting on a trade show, an art exhibition, or a fashion show, you need neither visas nor work permits.

Also, keeping in mind that French law emphasizes employee well-being, France requires its foreign employers to have documentation on file with the French counterpart to the United States Social Security Administration.

France and the United States have a reciprocal agreement whereby time spent working in France is considered eligible for social security and future benefits, like retirement, disability, and survivor’s insurance, in the United States. US employers must file a social security form for each employee working abroad. However, those benefits (as with so many others) do not apply to independent contractors. Therefore, those make-up artists, hairstylists, and public relations personnel employed by others but who are “hired out” by designers for shows must have their own full-time employers file social security forms for them.

Before starting work in France, an American employer transferring employees temporarily must file a declaration of workplace safety with the office for the International Posting of Workers in France, also known as Prestation de Services Internationales en France (SIPSI). Upon such filing, SIPSI will alert the French authorities responsible for inspecting the posting locations of foreign employees to examine the proposed fashion show site. Unlike the multiple social security forms required by an employer in the US, only one SIPSI filing is needed per employer, per location.

Much as in the critically acclaimed movie, as an American in Paris you will want to spend your free time eating baguettes, sightseeing, taking pictures, creating memories, and perhaps falling in love. It therefore would be wise to consult counsel and to address the business and legal issues in advance so that, once the fashion show has been completed, you will be able devote your time to drinking wine, eating cheese, and indulging in the many facets of French culture.

Credit: Candace R. Arrington