Inside the Fashion Week Black Market Pt. 1

Two years ago, I revealed the black market for Fashion Week invites. This time, I infiltrated it from the inside.

Two years ago, I blew the lid off the Paris Fashion Week black market. Balmain’s VIC ( Very Important Client ) Manager’s Instagram close friends story spilled the tea: a bullet-pointed menu of fashion show invites, Chanel, Vuitton, Balenciaga, Dries and more complete with red carpets and guaranteed rows. I screenshotted it, tweeted it, and watched the internet implode. Vanity Fair , The Cut and every fashion magazine in existence reported about it; Bryanboy dropped a spreadsheet from the prior year, with prices that read like a menu at Caviar Kaspia, indulgent, possibly illegal, and tailored for someone else’s tax bracket. Dior seats at $6,200, Balmain at $3,800, Vuitton at $6,000, Chanel “price upon request.” Glitz hounded me for the source, but I didn’t snitch. The drama died down, but the operation behind it still fascinated me.

my screen grab of the VIC Manager’s Instagram story

via Bryanboy

This time, I wanted the full story. To find out, I went undercover.

Enter Madame Jang, my fictional heiress. Her name hit me while half-watching Squid Game’s new season, distracted by Netflix but charmed by the resident granny ( RIP QUEEN ). I gave my version a Hong Kong shipping fortune, a Balenciaga couture obsession, and a taste for five-star hotels. She doesn’t speak English, avoids emails, and expects her initials embroidered on her private jet’s seat cushions. Her assistants? Me, Louis Pisano, playing the role, and Mei Zhao, a Hong Kong-based persona I invented. For Mei, I crafted mzhaoconcierge@gmail.com, complete with a logo featuring Chinese characters for authenticity, plus a fake Citibank Hong Kong wire transfer template to seal the deal. Mrs. Jang was ready to bait the hook.

Monday, June 30th

Right on cue, Steve popped up on Instagram Stories like a Couture Week guardian angel….“Tickets to all Major Fashion Shows in Paris Couture Week to sell. Please DM!” double dancing lady emoji.

I had no idea who he was exactly or why I was even following him. His profile screamed frazzled ex-PR turned freelance fixer. His bio read:

Director / The PR Concept Fashion & Luxury Lifestyle Ltd. Fashion & Lifestyle Journalist Harper’s Bazaar.

His feed flaunted front-row clips, backstage pics with designers, red-carpet photos, charity galas and selfies with European royals, enough glitter to suggest credibility. But a quick Google of both that company name and his “Harper’s Bazaar” byline turned up nothing but digital tumbleweeds. Still, stranger people have gotten show invites. Golden ticket dealer? Let’s see. So, I slid into his DMs. For science.

Me: “I have a Chinese client interested but they have some questions”

Steve: “Of course. Open to everything and checking then on my side if able to fulfill!”

I threw out a wish list: Schiaparelli, Chanel, Balenciaga, Viktor & Rolf, Armani Privé, Margiela. Basically, every fashion girlies wet dream. Four hours later, his price list arrived.

- Schiaparelli: €8,000

- Chanel: €10,000

- Balenciaga: €6,500

- Viktor & Rolf: €4,000

- Armani Privé: €8,500

- Margiela: €5,500

Me: “Ok I will speak with Mrs. Jang but I think she would be ok for Chanel, Schiaparelli & Balenciaga. Just to know because she had an issue a few seasons with a ticket she bought, you liaison directly with the PR offices for these tickets? In-house or Karla Otto, Lucien Pages etc? The seat would be an invitation under her name or would it be another? We’re trying to not have a repeat of another unfortunate situation. Also is there any guarantee for front row?”

Steve: “Chanel, Schiaparelli & Balenciaga All Inhouse contacts to the PR Marketing Managers of the labels. Under her name. Front Row is without further credentials unfortunately not possible to guarantee. Would need input on her status to those labels to get those confirmations as Frontrow always represents the image of the label”

To keep the momentum going and test the limits of Steve’s setup I crafted a carefully worded message. I thanked him for his time and slid into assistant-mode logistics: Was payment due in full the moment a show was confirmed, or could we negotiate a deposit? How quickly could everything be finalized once Mrs. Jang made her decisions? Were there preferred payment methods or invoicing formats we should know about? Then I dangled some bait: if she absolutely insisted on front row, I might be able to share more about her background and brand relationships but only with her approval, of course.

“Between us,” I added casually, “she’s a Balenciaga couture client. I believe she knows Johan Fleury from the VIP department perhaps that helps.”

I closed with a little polish. Mrs. Jang was excited about the collaboration, I told him. We were enthusiastic.

Then the red flag:

Steve replied: “Payment once surely confirmed as in attendance for Mrs Jang is due in full. It will be by bank transfer to Revolut or Wise Account. Thanks!

Alternative is crypto transfer of stable coins USDT or USDC to the active Wallet of mine validating the same Day value of these Crypto Currencies.

Same would apply over BLOCKCHAIN network in BTC or ETH accepted. As also amfar accepts crypto, I do as well. Priority Instant Transfer. PS: Frontrow Info is appreciated, though will look first to secure a Prime seating. Let me know if for one of those frontrow would be a must though. As you know yourself, its always tricky if not”

Totally Steve. Also comparing himself to amfAR? Bold. I actually laughed.

Tuesday, July 1st

Wednesday morning I decided my nonexistent Chinese heiress was happy viewing couture from behind someone’s head.

Me: “Hi Steve so she's fine for prime seating but can we confirm that there is availability for Schiaparelli and Chanel?”

Steve: “Yes I will do now in the next hours!”

Louis: “When confirmed are the invitations physical tickets, QR codes, or something else? She’s very keen on privacy, so how discreet is the transfer process would it be, just you and the brand manager who know about it? Also, are there opportunities to attend brand dinners or after-shows, either included or separately? And if Mrs. Jang is happy with this arrangement, could invites like this be secured for future shows or other cities?”

Steve left me on read.

Wednesday July 2nd

Wednesday rolled in, and so did Steve, fashionably late, but with updates and Dior distractions to share.

Steve: “Sorry, I got very busy with a DIOR project. Will keep you update with everything from now on. Brand dinners and aftershow events could be generally possible, yet especially for the seated dinners it can be difficult to arrange, I will let you know if something of a highclass format within the leading fashionlabels will show up. Yes, we can definitely look forward to future arrangements for Shows and cities as NYC, London and Milan beside Paris as well. Yes, indeed it covers full privacy, just the brand manager (my contact) is aware of that & for me it counts 100 % as well. Schiaparelli & Chanel at least 2nd row premium seating officially confirmed, option to move first row on show day. Balenciaga best conditions are done as well with her credentials.”

Mrs. Jang, I countered, is a ghost. No credentials shared until she’s on-site, for security. Steve didn’t blink.

Thursday, July 3rd

Steve finally sent over his so-called “confirmations, screenshots of emails from Chanel, Balenciaga, and Schiaparelli PRs that looked less like official correspondence and more like a Google Translate fever dream. The grammar wobbled, the formatting was all wrong, and Johan Fleury from Balenciaga was apparently vouching for my entirely fictional heiress.

Steve was buzzing with excitement: “So a First Row at Balenciaga!” He also sent his banking info, a Lithuanian Revolut account.

Stalling for time I slipped back into assistant mode. I thanked Steve for the confirmation and complimented the seating. “Would it be possible,” I asked, “to forward the original emails from the PR contacts?” Mrs. Jang’s assistant needed them on file before she boarded her flight. Once we had them, I said, we’d proceed with the transfer.

Steve replied quickly, if a bit evasively. The original emails, he said, were “on my assistant’s laptop” a mythical device I pictured gathering dust next to Mrs. Jang’s passport and his Harper’s Bazaar contract. Then came the follow-up:

“Which email should they be sent to? Also what’s her exact full name, to be able to put her with her ID/passport spelling on the list? Thank you!”

I didn’t hesitate. “Email is mzhaoconcierge@gmail.com,” I wrote. “And for the list, it’s Jang Meilan.”

Just like that, the address I’d built for this scam branded, polished, and staffed by an entirely fictional Mei Zhao was officially in play.

Within the hour, the emails landed in Mei’s inbox.

Or… something that looked like emails.

I opened them and immediately knew something was off. The subject lines began with “FWD:” but the actual messages didn’t contain any of the metadata you’d expect in a forwarded email no original headers, timestamps, or routing info. It was as if someone had just typed out a message themselves, slapped “FWD” on top like a sticker, and hit send.

Steve: “All emails have been kindly forwarded!”

I pondered my next play over the next few hours.

At midnight, Steve’s tone sharpened, a deadline dropping like a guillotine:

Steve: “looking forward to the total transfer of 24.500,00 EUR until 12:00 noon Paris time to be then completed to the mentioned account:”

Honestly at this point? I kinda believed him. I wanted to believe him. Steve wasn’t just some random dude on the internet. He was front row at the Moncler super-VIP show in St. Moritz , I saw it on his Instagram, sandwiched between a photo of him at amfAR and another in a Michelin-star kitchen with chefs in their whites. He looked like he belonged, jetsetting from Monaco to Portofino always a step away from a step-and-repeat.

The €24,500 figure, Chanel (€10,000), Schiaparelli (€8,000), Balenciaga (€6,500) and his noon ultimatum turned up the heat. With Paris Couture Week just days away, I knew it was time to push back and dig deeper.

TO BE CONTINUED…..