Goosebumps and stars as Paris Fashion Week kicks off

PARIS – Hollywood stars braved the rain to open Paris Fashion Week at L’Oreal’s giant outdoor show on Sept 23 as rumours swirl of musical chairs at the top of fabled French brands.

The cosmetics giant persuaded American actresses Jane Fonda – in snazzy silver sneakers – and Eva Longoria, model Kendall Jenner and several of its other brand ambassadors to walk in a spectacular public show in front of the gilded glory of the Opera Garnier.

With invites to the big luxury shows strictly limited to the glitterati and fashion insiders, L’Oreal said it wanted to democratise the glamour of fashion week.

Introduced by singer Celine Dion, the Walk Your Worth show also featured American actress Andie MacDowell, Indian star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, models with prosthetic limbs and Brazilian supermodel Luma Grothe proudly showing off her bump.

“The idea is to let the public see for themselves the beautiful clothes, settings and people that they would never normally have access to,” said L’Oreal’s Paris director general Delphine Viguier.

Fashion’s young guard had earlier endured a stormy start to the nine-day extravaganza.

Rising French star Victor Weinsanto staged his spring-summer show on the wet and windy roof of the Pompidou Centre museum, his fishnet and mesh ensembles created around Croatian drag queen Le Filip being tested by the elements.

The Paris shows started as falling profits at the two luxury giants LVMH and Kering have sent a shudder through the industry, fuelling talk of a “Game of Thrones” among top designers.

Celine’s Hedi Slimane and Simon Porte Jacquemus – the young French designer who made tiny handbags and tiny everything else a thing – are being talked of to fill Karl Lagerfeld’s empty chair at Chanel after Virginie Viard, who took the reins after his death in 2019, bowed out in June.

Tongues are also likely to wag at the spring-summer shows over where John Galliano might go, with his contract at Maison Margiela nearing its end.

The first shows from the big-hitter French houses will come on Sept 24 with Dior and Saint Laurent, with a packed calendar confirming Paris’ crushing dominance over rivals Milan, New York and London.

And there will be no let-up at the end: Chanel opens the final day on Oct 1 by returning to the vast Grand Palais, the scene of some of Lagerfeld’s most jaw-dropping shows, after an absence of four years.

The house is shelling out €30 million (S$43 million) to stage its shows at the iconic Belle Epoque edifice, which reopened after a major facelift to host fencing and taekwondo at the Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games.

With Viard – long Lagerfeld’s right-hand woman – gone, observers expect a collection drawn from Chanel classics.

In contrast, there could well be fireworks from Alessandro Michele, the mercurial Italian designer who transformed Gucci, who may be keen to make his mark with his debut show for Valentino.

Equally anticipated is French duo Coperni, who are staging their show at Disneyland Paris on the final night, with an after-party in the theme park that promises to go on into the wee hours.

The brand’s founders, Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer, pulled off a coup with their outfit for Belgian singer Angele for the Olympics closing ceremony, and are clearly in a mood to celebrate.

Another hot duo, the Olsen twins, the Los Angeles child actresses-turned-designers, have kept their place for their luxury line The Row in fashion week proper, thanks to a cash injection from the owners of Chanel and L’Oreal.

Paris will, however, be without Givenchy this time, with its new British designer Sarah Burton, a stalwart at Alexander McQueen for a quarter of a century, just made creative director. AFP