Salma Hayek Weighs In on Paris’ Car-Free Day

TAKE A WALK: Car-free day during Paris Fashion Week. For or against? With the city’s third edition of the event under Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to take place on Sunday, with no vehicles allowed to circulate in the city between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. except for emergency services, taxis, buses and accredited chauffeurs, guests attending the Altuzarra show on Saturday night expressed their views.

“I’m against it, because I love to drive,” said Pierre Hardy, who likes to think he doesn’t contribute too much to the city’s pollution levels, as he only drives around 10 minutes a day. “I own an old Mercedes and an old Jaguar,” he said.

Ami’s Alexandre Mattiussi, who also attended the show, said it’s a good thing, “though I’m sure everyone’s complaining about it, with it being Paris Fashion Week. Living in Paris, it’s such a nightmare with the cars, but I do have a scooter, so I don’t want them banning scooters,” he said. “I’m going to be driving mine in any case, I’m a rebel. I’ll pay the fine.”

Pascal Morand, executive president of La Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, said the organization has been in talks for months with the city and police officials to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

“It isn’t easy that it’s happening during fashion week, but we’ve tried to be pragmatic and find solutions. Certain decisions have been taken, a race that Nike had organized has been postponed, we had to be sure that all of the trucks coming for the production of the days’ official shows could get through, and so forth,” said Morand, who tends to use one of the federation cars provided by Renault, but takes the metro if traffic is too bad.

Dressed in a neon pink suit by Altuzarra, Salma Hayek, who raved about the show’s mix of textures and world influences, remained diplomatic. “We’ll see. It’s an adventure,” said the actress. “We’ll throw ourselves into it, then make an informed opinion.”

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