All the Moments You Might Have Missed From Vogue World: Paris

On the evening of Sunday, June 23, Vogue World: Paris brought together 188 athletes, 151 models, 70 dancers, and a 40-piece orchestra for a performance that began in the Ritz and ended with 20 international breakdancers taking over Place Vendôme. The theme of the night? The evolution of style over the last century, with each decade of fashion paired with a different sport: the Roaring Twenties with cycling (in the Jazz Age, bicycles were seen as a symbol of the speed, freedom, and mobility that defined the period); the elegant midcentury gowns of the ’50s with all things equine; the leotard- and lycra-obsessed ’70s with gymnastics; the ’90s, a.k.a. the WAG era, with soccer…

As Carine Roitfeld, who styled the event with Ib Kamara, put it, “It’s something that’s never been seen before,” with Vogue World marking the first time a fashion show has ever been staged at Place Vendôme. Watch the livestream in full, and read on for a recap of the highlights from the 40-minute show.

Les petites mains traded their ateliers for the front row

Paris is, of course, the birthplace of couture, with Charles Frederick Worth opening the first atelier a stone’s throw from the Place Vendôme, on Rue de la Paix, in 1858. It only seemed fitting, then, for Vogue World to begin with a tribute to all of the petites mains responsible for making creative directors’ visions a reality each and every Couture Week, with dozens of artisans wending their way through the square in their traditional white coats before taking front-row seats for the performance. Among the houses they represented? Armani Privé, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Margiela, and Schiaparelli.

Jean Paul Gaultier put on the Ritz, at the Ritz

Jean Paul Gaultier turned dresser for Vogue World: Paris, helping French-Malian musician Aya Nakamura into a custom-made gown backstage at the Ritz during the evening’s ouverture. The look is a combination of two previous designs by the enfant terrible of French fashion. “At my last show at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 2020, the final tableau featured outfits in different skin colors,” the designer told Vogue of the outfit’s conception. “I revisited that idea with this corset, which is taken from the Amy Winehouse-inspired spring/summer 2012 collection.” Her stays expertly laced by Gaultier himself, Aya—who, at 29, is the most widely streamed female artist in the French-speaking world—walked out into Place Vendôme to perform. Narrating her movements: emcee for the evening, Cara Delevingne, wearing a nautical look from Simone Rocha’s collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier earlier this year.

Vogue saluted former Place Vendôme resident Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel spent decades of her life at the Ritz, which was almost as much a home to her as her apartment on Rue Cambon. It was in her suite at the hotel, in fact, that she passed away—the rumor being that she came back from a stroll through the Jardin de Tuileries, lay down on a bed in her gilded rooms, and declared to her maid Celine, “You see, this is how you die.” Naturally, the 1920s-themed act of Vogue World saluted Mme. Chanel’s influence on the decade’s fashion (and, indeed, her influence on every decade since). Coco famously debuted the LBD—or, as Vogue put it at the time, “the frock that all the world would wear”—in 1924, with models wearing recreations of designs from that very collection for Vogue World: Paris, while cyclists from the French National Team whizzed around Place Vendôme.

Karlie Kloss dabbled in surrealism

The glamorous ’30s-inspired segment of Vogue World began with a quintet of models in monochrome Balenciaga gowns. Famously, Cristóbal Balenciaga only moved to France from his native Spain in 1937—breathing new life into fashion in the process—and Demna recreated two dresses from his predecessor’s earliest Parisian collections for Sunday’s celebration. The act then gave way to a track-and-field tribute that included a reimagining of the Course des Cafés and a flurry of models in clothes that nodded to the period entre deux guerres in various ways. Two standout looks chosen by stylist Carine Roitfeld? A Nina Ricci tuxedo inspired by Marlene Dietrich (whose penchant for pantalons got her in trouble with Parisian authorities in the ’30s), worn by the fabulous drag performer Keiona, along with a “Schiapar-alien” look for Karlie Kloss courtesy of Daniel Roseberry.

Sabrina Carpenter had a bombshell moment

Brigitte Bardot brought the bikini international recognition during the 1953 instalment of the Cannes Film Festival, but the two-piece first debuted on the Riviera in 1946, with couturier Jacques Heim and engineer Louis Réard both taking credit for its creation. It’s definitely the latter, however, who came up with the name bikini – a reference to the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the site of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the US government in the postwar period. Vogue World: Paris’s ’40s act paired riffs on the era’s Riviera-inspired designs with an aquatics theme, complete with several giant sun hats by Simon Porte Jacquemus and Sabrina Carpenter rising from “waves” of blue fabric in a look worthy of the Croisette.

Gigi and Kendall took the reins

The grand finale of the ’50s-inspired section of Vogue World saw the new-gen supers trotting through Place Vendôme on horseback—specifically, on stallions Napo and Django, whose manes were braided according to maestro Eugene Souleiman’s instructions for the occasion. While Gigi, Kendall, and their steeds were dressed head-to-hoof by Hermès—recall that the maison was originally founded as a saddle-making workshop in 1837—models appeared in a tricolore twist on Christian Dior’s Bar Suit, whose silhouette was fittingly inspired by Victorian-era riding habits.

Models and muses said en garde

Parris Goebel—the choreographer behind Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show—orchestrated the movement of hundreds of dancers, or muses, throughout Vogue World: Paris’s 40-minute run, including the stirring fencing sequence in the ’60s-inspired chapter, which included cameos from foil master Miles Chamley-Watson and épée great Laura Flessel-Colovic. Complementing the athletes’ traditional lamés? Recreations of André Courrèges and Paco Rabanne’s silver Space-Age designs overseen by creative directors Nicolas Di Felice and Julien Dossena and modeled by the faces of today’s answer to the ’60s Youthquake.

The trailblazing Black models at the Battle of Versailles got their flowers

Held in the Théâtre Gabriel in 1973, the Battle of Versailles precipitated an irrevocable shift within the fashion world under the guise of a charity event to restore King Louis XIV’s palace. Five French couturiers (Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Marc Bohan, Emanuel Ungaro, and Yves Saint Laurent) invited five Americans (Halston, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Anne Klein, and Oscar de la Renta) to pit their ready-to-wear designs against the creations of the Old World establishment. To everyone’s surprise, the US contingent “came, sewed, and conquered,” as WWD put it at the time. Meanwhile, 10 Black models (including Pat Cleveland and Bethann Hardison) who wore the American designers’ effortless creations brought the Black is Beautiful movement across the Atlantic, a watershed moment for diversity in the fashion industry. In Vogue World’s ’70s-themed act, models including Debra Shaw honored that legacy in ’70s-inspired Givenchy capes that recall the flower-colored chiffons Hubert sent down the runway at Versailles.

Power shoulders met power kicks

In the ’80s segment of Vogue World, Ib Kamara’s styling honored the Japanese designers who revolutionized Paris fashion during the decade of decadence, with models (and Katy Perry) making their way through Place Vendôme in sculptural creations by Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, and Noir Kei Ninomiya. Simultaneously, drummers from the Paris Taiko Ensemble—all of whom were wearing Pleats Please by Issey Miyake—provided the soundtrack for a performance from 60 martial artists, including eight judokas from the French National Team.

Bad Bunny brought the Place down

Vogue World’s “Vive La France!” sentiment reached its zenith in the ’90s act. It was in 1998 that France won its first World Cup, with the team’s midfielder Emmanuel Petit joining 42 other footballers from the Île-de-France Football League on Place Vendôme tonight. Adding to the patriotic atmosphere: model Anok Yai wearing a Pieter Mulier recreation of the 1989 tricolore Alaïa gown worn by opera singer Jessye Norman to sing “La Marseillaise” on Place de la Concorde to mark the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Speaking of timeless performances: the energy on the square reached a fever pitch when Met Gala co-host Bad Bunny stepped out to serenade the crowd.

Serena and Venus paid homage to Virgil and sustainability, respectively

The 2000s portion of Vogue World: Paris celebrated both tennis and 10 years of Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton. Beyond a parade of looks from the creative director’s decade at the helm of the storied maison, titans Serena and Venus Williams left an impression in two custom looks. The GOAT, of course, honored her long-standing relationship with Virgil Abloh by wearing a dress by Ib Kamara for Off-White (it’s Virgil who made Serena’s custom sneakers for the 2019 Met Gala). Venus, on the other hand, wore a Marine Serre look made from recycled tennis bags—a welcome nod to eco-friendly fashion. It’s not the only time the French designer flew the flag for sustainability tonight: each and every one of the flags flown in the ’50s-themed section were made by Marine Serre from upcycled scarves.

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