Celebrities Front Row at Valentino Fall 2024 Fashion Show: It’s All Love
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In the match of time, Maria Sharapova beat Serena Williams.
The two tennis players both appeared at the Valentino show Sunday. Sharapova arrived early; Williams walked in just before the show was due to start. But it was all love-love.
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“There’s something about coming in early and seeing a show come together,” said Sharapova. “The beauty of it is not just what’s on the catwalk, but actually the people and the materials and the substance that it takes to put a show together. So those are the magical moments for me.”
Sharapova has hit a few shows this Paris Fashion Week, including Victoria Beckham and Hermès. She said she learned how much work it takes to put together a collection through her friendship with Gabriela Hearst.
“Understanding what goes into the fashion industry and how physical and mental it is to produce consistent shows, season in, season out, I have so much admiration for this industry, particularly female designers I’ve gotten to know,” she said. “I know how tough it is juggling motherhood and work.”
Sharapova said she has taken inspiration from how designers manage aspects of their businesses, including beauty. She’s been taking time off since selling her candy business, Sugarpova, in 2021. But she’s now working on a platform that is not in the fashion space but adjacent and encompassing a lot of things, she said mysteriously. “But it’s still early days,” she said. “TBD.”
Singer Gracie Abrams arrived in Paris and did her homework ahead of the show — by watching “The Devil Wears Prada” in her hotel room.
Does she think it’s an accurate reflection of the fashion industry? “Mildly, in a way, and I say that with the most love,” she said. “It’s my favorite movie ever.”
(The film was a theme, as Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s dog Miranda, as in Priestly, was sitting in the front row.)
Looking around the Hotel Pozzo di Borgo, which was Karl Lagerfeld’s home for 30 years, she declared it a palace. Abrams toured with Taylor Swift through the summer and fall, and was eager to step into the real-life world of the now-classic film.
“I feel stoked to be in a new environment for a second,” she said. The singer has a few fashion shows under her belt, but it has been several years since then and she was trying to fully take in the moment.
“I always miss fashion week as soon as it’s over. Honestly, it’s so inspiring to be around all different kinds of artists…[music and fashion are] both ways to express yourself. I have loved getting dressed by people who are so genius in the fashion world. I’m typically very low maintenance and laid-back. So it’s a rare experience for me to kind of get dressed up like this.”
She was in a lace dress with full skirt, but not very full coverage up top. Abrams added another layer as the first impression was a little too sheer, despite the current trend and ensuing exposure of runway looks. “It was almost a pasties situation,” she said.
The album, too, is under wraps. She would only say that the writing process has been “cathartic.”
“But I love it more than anything. I’m excited for it to belong to everyone else, hopefully very soon,” she said.
Talk of writing seemed to be buzzing in the room, with “The Bear” actress Molly Gordon sharing that she is working on a screenplay she hopes to direct.
“I’ve been in my sweatpants, big shirt era. So to put on a dress like this and get my makeup done is a very different energy. I haven’t left the house,” she said. Gordon was accompanied by her mom, Jessie Nelson. She joked that the two were so tired they were attempting to speak garbled French to waiters. “But we sound like we are speaking in tongues.”
She wouldn’t divulge anything about the plot of her script, but talked process. “You kind of try and then you hate it, then you write and then you turn on it, then you love it, and then you turn on it again. You never feel perfect about it but you just jump off the bridge and attempt to be creative.”
Gordon said she learned from working with directors Olivia Wilde on “Booksmart” and Natalie Krinsky on “Broken Hearts Gallery,” and co-directed “Theater Camp” with Nick Lieberman last year. Now she’s ready for her first solo project.
“You learn tips and tricks and then you create your own toolbox. I feel lucky that I get to keep acting so I get to steal more from other directors. But if it gets made, that’s the dream,” she said of stepping behind the camera.
The actress doesn’t have any plans to go into fashion, but knows what women want: pockets. In a feat of tailoring, her Valentino minidress came complete with them. “I mean, what more could you want? I literally gasped when I found out it had pockets. Like, a scary gasp. But now in every photo I have to make sure to fully show that I have hands.”
Launch Gallery: Celebrities Front Row at Valentino Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear Show Photos
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