Any industry insider will tell you that the people at fashion shows bear little resemblance to the kooky characters in “Emily in Paris” — at least, most of the time.
At the Nina Ricci show in Paris, which doubled as a launch party for its new fragrance Vénus, the front row was filled with looks that could have popped straight off the mood board of the show’s costume designer Marilyn Fitoussi.
British model and DJ Mary Charteris wore a black flecked tweed lampshade dress topped with a face-framing faux fur-trimmed hood. Influencer Leonie Hanne came in an ivory bra top, floorlength skirt and capelet, paired with black leather opera gloves.
Almost every VIP guest was wearing black or white, making you wonder if you’d missed the dress code memo. Then the penny dropped: Harris Reed is having an “Emily in Paris” moment.
When season four came out in mid-August, the Nina Ricci creative director was overwhelmed with the response to the masquerade ball look he designed for protagonist Lily Collins, who regularly wears the label in real life.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated how much reach and coverage it was going to have,” he said in a preview. “It was insane to see the response post-show in sales across our e-comm, across other places, because people wanted to be like Emily, in a weird way.”
Harris has made black-and-white a signature of the house, and his fourth collection was his most successful so far in terms of crystallizing his Nina Ricci look.
Think miniskirts with oversized bows and ruffles, ruched polka dot cocktail dresses, and ’60s-flavored A-line jackets and coats, topped with saucer hats and trailing chiffon headscarves.
“Nina, for me, always has to have this sense of fun playfulness,” Reed said. “There’s a wave coming right now of just wanting to be a bit Jolie Madame, or a bit more outwardly feminine.”
Balancing out the sheer and lacy evening looks, sprinkled with corset details, were tuxedo styles similar to the wide lapel suit and stiff bow blouse worn by Julianne Moore on the cover of Spanish Vogue, cleverly broadening the brand’s generational reach.
Like Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing earlier in the week, Harris sent out a handful of looks that directly referenced the Puig-owned brand’s new fragrance launch, though he wisely sidestepped a literal interpretation of the perfume’s gold shell-shaped bottle.
Instead, model Colin Jones appeared in a stunning black column dress, her face screened behind a panel of stiff pleated tulle.
Afterwards, the crowd headed to the garden to sip Champagne in front of a display of perfume bottles and take in a mini-concert by Swedish singer Lykke Li, who was joined by Harris onstage. One of the guests looked strangely familiar. It was Kevin Dias, who plays Mindy’s bandmate Benoit in “Emily in Paris.” Talk about life imitating art.
