Stéphane Rolland’s Spring Haute Couture Show Is a Charity Fundraiser

PARIS — Selling tickets to a fashion show? Quelle horreur!

While the practice is taboo in the rarefied world of haute couture, posters plastered across Paris last fall promised just that: an opportunity to attend Stéphane Rolland‘s spring 2025 show on Jan. 28.

It wasn’t a scam: after opening his runway to fashion students last year, the designer is adding a charity component this season.

Rolland and his business partner Pierre Martinez have teamed with the Fondation des Hôpitaux to help teenagers at risk. They have held a series of workshops since September for a dozen girls aged 13 to 18 who are being treated for mental health issues, including eating disorders.

Half the 1,500 invitations for the display at Salle Pleyel were snapped up for between 20 euros and 50 euros as part of the foundation’s annual “Pièces Jaunes” (“Yellow Coins” in English) fundraising drive. The other half has been allocated for clients and press.

“Selling invitations to a fashion show is usually a big no-no, but it was important to make an exception for charity,” said Rolland, saying he chose the Fondation des Hôpitaux in honor of Bernadette Chirac, who headed the organization from 1994 to 2019. 

Rolland famously dressed the former French first lady in a red off-the-shoulder gown for a 2004 state dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. 

The Fondation des Hôpitaux was founded in 1989 by pediatrician Claude Griscelli and journalist Anne Barrère, after her son was treated for leukemia. 

It has since raised 120 million euros and sponsored more than 17,000 programs designed to improve the lives of patients and caregivers in French hospitals and retirement homes.

Guests will be invited to give to the foundation through donation boxes at the show venue or via a QR code that is featured on the invitations and will be screened before it starts.

The spring collection was inspired by American-born French dancer and singer Josephine Baker, who aided the French Resistance during World War II and was a key supporter of the American civil rights movement.

Rolland was at school with her daughter Stellina, one of 12 children from differing backgrounds she adopted.

He saw parallels between Baker’s humanitarian initiatives and the foundation’s Maison des Ados, a network of more than 125 centers across France working with struggling teens.

“What appealed to us about the foundation was that we understood very quickly that there was this twin approach. It’s about raising funds, but behind that, there is a real opportunity for a human exchange,” Martinez said.

Since September, he and Rolland have organized six workshops for the participating teens in order to introduce them to the world of fashion and the arts, before they attend Tuesday’s show.

There was a visit to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris; a deep dive into the costume workshop at the Paris Opera; a meeting with director Claude Lellouch and Marilyn Fitoussi, the costume designer for the Netflix series “Emily in Paris,” and a photo shoot coached by Miss France Eve Gilles.

They also took part in workshops with students from the ESMOD fashion school and had an introduction to drawing and embroidery. Two of the young women will be doing an internship at the house of Rolland to explore a potential career in fashion.

“The fashion industry sends them a lot of negative messages, between social networks, influencers, models who are too skinny, or even just stoking a constant need for things,” said Martinez, adding that designers have a responsibility to redress these issues. 

Rolland said the experience had given him and his teams a sense of purpose, and he hopes to do a second edition — and this time charge more for the ticket sales. 

“I think it humanizes the industry a little,” he said. “We would love for other houses to join us. It would be great if, for example, every season the couture houses did a fashion show to benefit a charity.”