On the first day of Paris Fashion Week there was a theatre in Dior. Arai's powerful charm. However, in the case of real-life dressing dramas, guests arrived for the museum's gala grand dinner, compared to a fashion show held in front of the bright glass pyramids of the Louvre in the opening evening of the collection.
Doechii blew a seat in the matching pyramids of yellow Valentino couture (the skirt was so large that later she turned into a blue strapless gown to help her navigate the party). Lou de Illon, an asymmetrical white gown cut into her waist. Zoey Deutch, hooded peach chiffon. Gigi Hadid, Jeremy Scott, a gold sequin, her hair is in the waves of waves.
And of course, there was Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and the mastermind of Gala. It was located at Rose-and-Swallow-Broidered Givenchy Couture by Sarah Burton. However, Winzer was a guest, not a chair in the evening. And the dress code was simply “black tie”, but not a more complicated, met-worthy theme, but simply a “black tie”.
At the entrance there was no reception line, as in the Met, but there was a silver ballroom chair around the catwalk where I pretended. Beyond that, guests took a stroll through the museum's first fashion exhibition, Louvre Couture. We then entered the Course Marley, a spectacular glass hall filled with classic sculptures, for a cocktail party and dinner. “Does that look like the Met Gala to you?” I tweeted one woman to another. The answer was a raised eyebrow.
Certainly, if the school was a fashion university rather than a major cultural phenomenon where it was a med, the mood was a very, very flashy school reunion.
Keira Knightley hugged Rosie Huntington Whiteley in a strapless black Chanel with black sequins. Naomi Campbell compared a picture of a sparkly ivory Valentino baby with three months old, wearing a black dress under the swirling, cardinal-worthy coral cape of Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel, with Adut Akech. Sidney Toledano, CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, tapped Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky on the shoulder (they were sitting at tables on two different levels of the course, so Mr Toledano later texted Mr. Pavlovsky: “Why are you here?”
Philippine Leroy Beaulieu from “Emily of Paris” compared the black Balenciaga dress to Michel Yeau. Former French first lady, Cara Bruni Sarkozy, dressed in a large, white 1995 Galliano gown with a big black rose and kissed French Minister of Culture, Lacida Dati. About John Galliano himself, he showed off his new lob hairstyle and raved about his recent “orgasmic detox” he enjoyed in Mexico. David and Victoria Beckham walked hand in hand, and Dev Patel without a tuxedo (he wore a grey suit instead) sat at the table with a black-pink Jissou.
“It's not that nervous,” approved Nigerian and British designer Duro Orow. Perhaps that fact, that fact, that fact, that fact, that fact, that fact, that fact, it has its scheduled entrance, strictly controlled access, a streaming audience, and can look more like a business than a party. Because Gwyneth Paltrow announced that she hadn't returned in the past, it was a very “fan” (she later broke away).
It doesn't seem to be a problem with the grand dinner. Looking into the room, Campbell said, “Andre would have loved this.” A reference to Andre Leon Tully, the incredibly epic fashion editor who passed away in 2022. “I can't believe it,” she said.
Louvre has kept its annual grand dinner for the past few years, and although it has often been attended by private donors, the event has never been overtly linked to fashion. It opened in January and changed for the Louvre Couture, lined up the wings of 100 museum decorative arts from fashion designers' historic (Dior, Saint Laurent) and New (Marineser, Mr. Orow).
At the exhibition, Lawrence de Carr, the first female president of the Louvre, was able to rethink the fundraiser as a celebration of the fashion industry, turning to tapping deep pockets of the sector.
This is because Europe has fewer private charity traditions than the US. Historically, the French state has supported the arts. However, these budgets have been reduced, with the Louvre at the start of a major renovation project. This is estimated at 700-800 million euros (although rumors could be 1.5 billion euros). Please enter your grand dinner.
Yet, the total involved reflects the reality that this approach is just in its early stages. The table of 10 was 50,000 euros instead of the Met's $350,000, totaling around 1 million euros. This is a party record, but it's significantly less than the 2024 Met $26 million. It all goes to the Louvre Repair and Education Initiative, as Visa, who sponsored the fashion exhibition, took on the party's expenses.
Either way, Death Carr said the evening was everything she imagined.
And when asked if the grand dinner would become an annual fixture of Fashion Week and the museum schedule, Deskals said he thought so.
In July, during a couture show, the Meuceas de Coratif, located inside the Louvre Palace, will hold another grand taiy event, the first Bardeleté (summerball). At this point, table prices are more skewed to Met levels than grand dinners, but are subject to some controversy.
Therefore, the fight for fashion fundraisers begins.
