PARIS — On Saturday, Elias Medini, also known as Lyas — the creator behind fashion week “Watch Parties,” where runway shows are streamed for a live, in-person audience — posted a video on social media lambasting Vogue for “stealing” the concept.
The response was overwhelmingly supportive, with Instagram and TikTok commenters casting Lyas and his free, open events as David to the Condé Nast publication’s invite-only viewing party Goliath. Still, there were some who questioned whether an idea as simple as gathering fashion fanatics to watch a public livestream truly belonged to anyone anyway.
With his latest event, Lyas upped the ante.
For his kickoff Watch Party at Paris Fashion Week, 2,000 attendees gathered in a Parisian theatre to view Saint Laurent’s winter collection as it premiered elsewhere in the city. But the opening act was something new: a genuine, in-person runway show.
Lyas had arranged for the Paris-based label Zomer to show its latest collection before his guests, who had queued up early to enter the first-come, first-serve event. Zomer may not have Saint Laurent’s global name recognition, but it’s a fixture of the Paris Fashion Week schedule all the same, having shown on the official calendar five times since 2024, and winning both the LVMH and ANDAM prizes in 2024.
“It’s very important for me not just to screen the ten minutes of a fashion show, but to build an experience around it that I would like to attend,” said Lyas.
Audience participation was threaded throughout. Three attendees were invited backstage to record content including interviews with models and makeup artists.
Lyas, who had attended the actual Saint Laurent show, hustled over to the watch party afterwards to chat with the crowd for an hour, discussing the show notes — which he had signed by creative director Anthony Vaccarello and offered to one lucky member of the crowd. Attendees rated the show between one and five stars using a QR code. Those who voted were handed a microphone and invited to discuss their response.
While model Bella Hadid, who was the intended “surprise appearance” at the end of the evening, was a no-show, Lyas invited another model to discuss her experience to give viewers extra insight into the industry.
Additional show screenings will continue throughout fashion week, including Tom Ford and Balenciaga, as well as a secret show and after-event following Chanel on Monday.
“We don’t really dream anymore in fashion, I don’t see the dream,” said Lyas. “I look at runways and they get blander and blander, and that’s why I’m trying to create an event that makes people dream, or at least myself.”
Lyas and Zomer had help from some big fashion names: the brand partnered with Watch Party sponsors Casio, Asics and L’Oréal for the show, with models wearing the brands’ watches and shoes on-stage. But he said figuring out how to scale the events while maintaining their spirit remains a learning experience: “It’s a machine, but sadly I am not a robot.”
“It’s so complicated when you’re a young, independent individual to compete with those corporations,” Lyas told The Business of Fashion. “They have all the funds, they have all the money, and they just come and steal young people’s ideas. This is a tale as old as time in fashion … So sadly, you have to be outspoken about it.”
Lyas’ Chanel Watch Party Was Bursting at the Seams
Fashion enthusiasts huddled against the cold October evening in Paris’ 10th arrondissement as they watched Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut. Reviews for the collection itself were mixed, but everyone was happy to be there.
