L’Oreal hosts 1st show on Seine in Paris; Valentino delights

FILE: When beauty meets fashion 💄 #lorealPFW
For the first time, see models walk on water!
On September 30th 2018, Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris will take place on a custom-designed river catwalk, a structure never before created on the Seine River!
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PARIS — As Paris Fashion Week heads toward the finish line, Sunday’s shows went up a gear as L’Oreal Paris held what the beauty giant called the first ever runway display to be held on the Seine river.

Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau took a turn as a model on a floating podium alongside actress Eva Longoria and Andie MacDowell who spoke to AP about ageism.

The star-filled extravaganza that halted traffic had spectators clambering around barriers to get a free glimpse.

Here are some highlights:

L’OREAL GOES IN-SEINE

The clothes were designed by some of the great houses of Paris fashion including Balmain, AMI, Off-White, Giambattista Valli, Elie Saab.

But this fashion show — much like L’Oreal’s display on the Champs-Elysees last year — was always more about the show, than the fashion.

A giant 60-meter floating podium was flanked by hundreds of champagne-sipping VIP guests on the river bank and on deck in a specially-hired boat — as traffic along the Seine was halted for the show’s duration.

Drones buzzed overhead to stream the action via social media, so said L’Oreal, to some 30 different countries.

Cheers erupted as a speedboat splashed down the Seine and began the collection by docking some glamorous freight — model Doutzen Kroes, who stepped out.

L’Oreal ambassadors flooded the runway.

British signer Cheryl appeared in a provocative in thigh-high boots and one-shoulder split-leg minidress with reflective paillettes that sparkled in the blazing sun. Elle Fanning smiled sweetly as she walked in a pastel shoulderless embroidered gown and bright red heels. Meanwhile, American actress Aja Naomi King made her L’Oreal modeling debut in a draped pink number.

But it was Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, 48, and Eva Longoria, 43, who were king and queen of the show. The “Desperate Housewives” star stepped out in a regal looking gunmetal layered mini-gown with 2-meter-long train. Coster-Waldau was all smiles and looked slightly surprised at some moments in a long-tailored coat and white shoes.

“I was surprised to be doing a catwalk. I never thought I would see the day, neither did my children but you know it’s just going to be fun,” Coster-Waldau said.

ANDIE MACDOWELL

Ahead of the L’Oreal show, Andie MacDowell, 60, spoke to AP about ageism and on the longevity of being a L’Oreal ambassador for some three decades and counting.

“I think the timing right now is really fiery as far as acceptance. And ageism is part of that acceptance,” she said.

“I have to say you have to give L’Oreal credit for being one of the first people to take on all ages and to take on mature people like Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren and Diane Keaton … and keeping me,” she added, humbly.

MacDowell praised the Paris cosmetics giant for being trail-blazers when it comes to “recognizing that there is no expiration date on beauty.”

“How we treat women as they get older, I think it’s important to be inclusive and also have a deep respect for them,” MacDowell added.

VALENTINO DELIGHTS

“A work in substraction,” so said the house, was the spirit behind Pierpaolo Piccioli’s accomplished — and pared down — display for Valentino.

Cactuses and cleanly shaped plants lined the foot of the runway, presumably in reference to the clean lines and minimalist styles that opened the show.

Deceptively simple black looks began the collection: a shoulderless baggy jumpsuit with cape and Elizabethan-style sleeves and a gown with an exaggerated peplum hem.

Their beauty lay in the subtle detail.

An unstructured minidress with giant flounce looked beautifully off-kilter as it hung delicately from the model’s shoulder, as if it could fall off at any point.

White looks then came, and were, alongside black, a dominant theme — speaking to the ubiquitous spring-summer trend.

Artistry was found in some of these white looks: gowns with delicate pressed pleats that seemed to fan around the belly button.

But Valentino is a couture house at heart, and despite this being a ready-to-wear show, the work of the “petites mains,” or seamstresses of the age-old atelier, were on display.

A giant veiny couture-style, with a delicate organic feel and billowing feathers, had guests reaching for their cameras.

FREIDA PINTO FINDS TIME TO STEP OUT

Indian actress Freida Pinto rocked a beautifully tailored menswear jacket look on the Valentino front row — the first time she’s been seen at one of the couture house’s displays.

“I’m super excited. This is really my style. It makes me feel really comfortable,” she said.

“This is my first ever Valentino show… We’ve been trying for some time to make it work but with my schedule it’s been hard,” she added.

Pinto, who shot to fame with “Slumdog Millionaire,” blamed her busy schedule on several “exciting” films she’s starring in.

It includes the British-American fantasy adventure “Mowgli,” based on the Rudyard Kipling fable set in India, in which she plays Messua, who decides to adopt the wild Mowgli, believing that he is their long-lost son Nathoo. It also features Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett.

COMMOTION AT VALENTINO

When fashion insiders tried to leave the Valentino venue at the Army Museum inside Les Invalides, a commotion beyond the metal barriers on the street forced the security to close off the exit.

As the crowd of fashion guests swelled into the hundreds, one French editor muttering she was too important to wait pushed past angrily.

After vocal protests over being squashed, an employee of KCD PR agency explained that the police had given them instructions to stop the guests exiting the show, after someone in a vehicle had tried unsuccessfully to swerve into people on the street.

Two police officers on the scene who wouldn’t give their names said an unknown person in a vehicle had tried “to ram” police officers outside the Valentino show, but didn’t hurt anyone and was detained.

The fashion crowd was directed to exit via the south entrance, past the big Celine show venue — in unfortunate bad optics.