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At the newly-restored Grand Palais, a seriously chic crowd gathered to fete Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection on a gloriously sunny October morning in Paris. It was the last day of Paris Fashion Week, but spirits were high, as this was the first collection the brand had staged at the iconic French landmark in more than five years. Among the guests? Newly-appointed brand ambassador Lupita Nyong’o, filmmaker Greta Gerwig, and singer and actress Riley Keough, who sang a rendition of Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’ as models marched down the runway for the collections’ finale, while swinging from a white wooden swing inside a giant bird cage, an homage to the 1999 advertisement starring Vanessa Paradis.
“Oh my God, [Riley] is amazing,” gushed Margaret Qualley, the The Substance actress, who sat front row in an all white ensemble from the brand. “She’s like Old Hollywood glamour, so classy, and this incredible jazz singer. It’s amazing.” It was a sentiment echoed by Australian actress Odessa Young, who also sat front row. “I had a tear in my eye,” Young—who wore trousers and a tweed coat with a statement lapel from the Manchester Cruise collection—told ELLE Australia. Young and Keough worked together on the 2023 film Manodrome, which Young starred in and Keough produced. “She made me fall in love with her even more than I was.”
The fashion itself was notably fresh and youthful, a remarkable feat when you consider that the collection was designed by the brand’s in-house ateliers, as Chanel is still between creative directors (Virginie Viard left the house after five years in April, and despite a rigmarole of speculation during Paris Fashion Week, no successor has yet been named). “I love how simple and timeless the clothes are,” said Qualley, who opened the brand’s haute couture Spring/Summer 2024 show in Paris in January, and was later appointed a house ambassador. “This collection was so beautiful. It’s so cool to be back in the Grand Palais, and I love how open and airy they made the set design. I mean, the birdcage is pretty astounding.”
For Odessa Young, who was recently announced as the female lead in an upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic alongside Jeremy Allen White, the Victorian-style drop-waist skirts were a personal favourite. “I love the bird-cage skirts, with the sheer fabric over the drop-waist,” she explains. “Chanel has been around for more than a century and it has remained consistently elegant and consistently relevant. I don’t think there’s ever been a time in the brand’s history where I haven’t wanted to wear the clothes.
For Qualley, it’s particularly special being back in Paris, which is where she filmed the buzzy Coralie Forgeat-directed body horror The Substance with Demi Moore. A razor-sharp commentary on the unfair beauty standards placed on ageing women, The Subtance has become an overnight cult sensation, and Qualley’s character, ‘Sue’, is an internet favourite. “It’s awesome that people are responding to it,” says Qualley of the feedback to The Substance. “I couldn’t love Demi Moore more, so I’m super happy for her. I find her endlessly inspiring.”
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