Inside Chanel’s Flight of Fancy With Jennie, Wizkid, Lupita Nyong’o and Riley Keough
Fashion took flight at Tuesday morning’s Chanel show, which was back at the Grand Palais after years of renovations returned it to its Art Nouveau splendor.
Jennie Kim was having a blond moment. The Blackpink star was debuting the hair color as part of a new look for her upcoming solo single. Maybe, or maybe not, she teased.
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“My new look today. I have new blond hair and this pop of color that I chose is a different look for Chanel and me,” she said. The single is titled “Mantra.”
“I can’t share too much just yet, but maybe this new look is a little bit of a teaser,” she said. As for what her personal mantra is, she said more will be revealed. “It’s talking about all sorts of mantras that I can’t pick one right now.”
The sound also is a mystery until next week. “That’s a little secret that I want to keep,” she said, revealing only: “It’s hot.”
The vibe inside the Grand Palais, however, was breezy and cool, with an all-white set. The finale featured Riley Keough performing an acoustic version of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” from on high — swinging while suspended inside a birdcage.
(That song is having a moment, playing a key role at Monday’s Stella McCartney show as well, which was dedicated to birds and feather-free fashion.)
Keough had been rehearsing the performance since Sunday, and the message resonated with her. “The theme was liberation and then freedom,” she said.
But Elvis’ granddaughter, who recently played a singer in “Daisy Jones and the Six,” has no plans to make any sort of career move. She called crooning “a hobby.”
“I sing if people ask me to, but it’s not something that I’m pursuing,” she said. But if she were asked to do an album?
“I don’t think I can write music,” she said. Keough is prolific in other genres, though. She is in the midst of writing a new screenplay and recently completed her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown.” The book tour for that starts next week, while she is on a break from filming a movie in Spain.
Odessa Young was in a cozy chocolate colored tweed suit. “I’m having a love affair with the color brown right now,” she said of the cozy knits. “It reminds me of a Vancouver blanket look, very elevated hippie.”
Young was having a bit of a fangirl moment following Keough’s performance. The surprise moment nearly brought her to tears, as Keough is one of her favorite singers and actresses. But she didn’t bring her glasses and couldn’t tell who was performing until she heard the first notes.
“I f–king freaked out. I was just so happy. It really brought tears to my eyes,” she said. Young worked with Keough briefly on the film “Manodrome.”
“She has, in my opinion, the most beautiful voice in the entire world,” she said, singing the praises of Keough, who joked they should do a collaboration.
Young has just wrapped “Black Rabbit” with Jude Law and Jason Bateman, a thriller set in the restaurant world, and learned to tattoo for the role. To learn she worked alongside some New York City tattoo artists, bought supplies on Canal Street and practiced on rubber and oranges. “I wouldn’t recommend getting me to tattoo you, but I could do it…I won’t say I practiced on people, because that might be liable for legal action,” she joked.
“It was so beautiful to see that swing, to have the feeling of air. This is a collection that has a lot of light and flight in it,” said newly minted brand ambassador Lupita Nyong’o.
She worked with stylist Micaela Erlanger to find something chic and weather appropriate for the morning show, and sported a beaded velvet jumpsuit to celebrate the occasion.
The Oscar winner said she remembers wearing Chanel just after filming “12 Years a Slave,” and has attended several shows and events over the years.
“This is an important brand, a legacy brand, a historical brand, and I’m happy and very proud to add to that legacy,” she said about joining the house. “It’s a brand that really understands its DNA and its identity, but it’s not afraid to play within the rules of that identity.”
The house is searching for a new creative director after the surprise departure of Virginie Viard earlier this year. The collection, featuring a smattering of directions, was designed by the studio team.
Some of the looks featured sky-high platforms that looked pretty daring. Nico Parker cited them as one of her favorite things about the show. Would she be able to walk in them? “Hopefully, in my head,” she joked. “I don’t know if I could do it as well as those models, but I would put in a good shift I think.”
Footwear was on top of mind after filming “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.” Her character is a cool London teenager, with lots of the current baggy jeans and big sweaters look. Comfort is at the forefront, but to up the fashion factor she was costumed with jelly shoes, a trend Parker found easier to appreciate in theory.
“I loved to look at them, but to wear [them] proved slightly treacherous,” she said. “I said, ‘Yeah, bring these back American Apparel,’ and then as soon as I put them on, I was like, ‘Oh, I see why people don’t really wear these anymore.’”
Still, shooting with Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant was “a dream come true” for the young Brit.
“Such a bucket list [item]. That was my actual childhood and adolescence watching those movies,” she said of the first two films. “Just being around that iconic cast was surreal.”
Afrobeats superstar Wizkid is also about to drop his new single, and previewed it during a surprise performance at a Parisian club the night before the show. Even though Chanel doesn’t have menswear, the singer selects its jackets and loves to style with their accessories and jewelry.
“I’m a big fan of the brand. It’s a legendary one. I wear it for shows, for everything. I like accessories on my hats, my chains, my bracelets and the belts as well. I really, really love the Chanel belts,” he said, as evidenced by his look with chains and several brooches on his hat.
In addition to accessories, he wears his heart on his sleeve for the new single, which is dedicated to his late mother.
“It literally comes from the love I have for my mother, and I just wanted to shine a light on how important love is in this world,” he said. The superstar made a quick exit. “It was getting a little bit rowdy,” he said of the fashion show crowd.
Actress Dar Zuzovsky declared that with lots of light streaming through the Grand Palais glass roof, the show was “magical.”
She just wrapped “The Saints,” Martin Scorsese’s upcoming TV series about the life of Jesus shot in Morocco.
“It was just insane to me that he even knew my name,” she said of being cast by the legendary director. She approached the pivotal role of Mary Magdalene with caution.
“It’s such a big task to take on, to play not just a real person, a person that means so much to the whole religion. So it was kind of stressful, and I had to find her in me,” she said. “Everybody’s gonna have an opinion, and I just have to find my own voice in it. She’s also from Israel, same as me, and that was a nice point of connection.”
Bella Maclean found possibly the most casually cool Chanel outfit for the morning show. She was wearing dungarees, or overalls, embossed with double Cs on the hip pockets.
“I didn’t realize dungarees could be so flattering. I just feel like I want to live in these all the time,” she said of the comfy look. Her next film “Rivals,” costarring Aiden Turner and David Tennant, just wrapped.
“It’s about money, power, class, sex. It’s raunchy and there’s heart to it,” she said. It’s set in the British TV industry in the 1980s. That put her in shoulder pads and big hair. “The clothes were pretty amazing. They’re very dramatic compared to now.”
Another industry underbelly movie is in the works starring Fala Chen and Tilda Swinton titled “Ballad of a Small Player.”
The film was shot entirely in Hong Kong and Macao. “It’s really rare to get an insider view of the casino scenes. And it’s dark. It gets really dark and dirty,” Chen said. “It’s like Vegas — but times 10.”
But the actress was clad in crisp white, with sparkling star details on the bodice. She responded to Keough’s performance. “It just gives you a lot of imagination about what you’re capable of as a woman, that you want to break the cage open and just fly.”
Launch Gallery: Celebrities Front Row at Chanel Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Show
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