Goosebumps and stars at the start of Paris Fashion Week

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Hollywood stars braved the rain to open Paris Fashion Week on Monday at a giant outdoor show for L’Oréal, despite rumours of “musical chairs” at the top of the legendary French brands.

The cosmetics giant persuaded Jane Fonda – in chic silver sneakers – Kendall Jenner, Eva Longoria and several other brand ambassadors to make a spectacular public appearance in front of the golden Opera Garnier building.

With invitations to major luxury shows now restricted to celebrities and fashion insiders, L’Oreal has stressed it wants to democratize the glamour of fashion week.

The show, hosted by singer Celine Dion, also featured Andie MacDowell, Indian star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, models with prosthetic limbs and Brazilian supermodel Luma Grothe, who proudly showed off her baby bump.

“The idea is for people to see beautiful clothes, environments and people that they wouldn’t normally have access to,” Delphine Viguier, CEO of L’Oréal in Paris, told AFP.

The young fashion star had already had a tumultuous start to the nine-day extravaganza behind him – rising French star Victor Weinsanto staged his spring/summer show on the wet, windy roof of the Centre Pompidou museum, and his fishnet and net outfits, created for Croatian drag queen Le Filip, were put to the test by the elements.

The Paris shows began with a drop in profits for two luxury giants, LVMH and Kering, sending shockwaves through the industry and sparking “Game of Thrones” gossip among top designers.

There’s talk that Hedi Slimane and Simon Porte Jacquemus of Celine — the young French designer who has turned tiny handbags and everything else tiny into something extraordinary — could fill Karl Lagerfeld’s empty seat at Chanel after Virginie Viard, who took over after the “emperor” died in 2019, stepped down in June.

You can also expect to see a lot of gossip during the spring/summer shows about where John Galliano, whose contract with Maison Margiela is coming to an end, might be heading.

The first shows of the biggest French fashion houses will take place on Tuesday: Dior and Saint Laurent, and the packed calendar will confirm Paris’ overwhelming dominance over its rivals: Milan, New York and London.

And finally, there is no respite: Chanel opens its final day of shows on October 1, returning to the vast Grand Palais, site of some of Lagerfeld’s most spectacular shows, after a four-year hiatus.

The theater has spent 30 million euros ($33 million) to stage shows in the iconic Belle Epoque building, which reopened after a major renovation to host fencing and taekwondo competitions during the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Following the departure of Viard – Lagerfeld’s longtime right-hand woman – observers are expecting a collection based on classic Chanel designs.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Michele, the capricious Italian designer who changed the face of Gucci, could show class and shine in his debut show for Valentino.

Equally eagerly awaited is French duo Coperni, who will perform at Disneyland Paris on the final evening, with the amusement park’s afterparty expected to last until dawn.

The brand’s founders, Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer, had a successful runway show designing Belgian singer Angele’s outfit for the Olympic closing ceremony, and they’re clearly in the mood to celebrate.

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

This time, however, Paris will do without Givenchy. At the helm is a new British designer, Sarah Burton, who has been a regular collaborator with Alexander McQueen for a quarter of a century and has just been appointed creative director.