✨Women✨ of Paris Fashion Week

Words by Taryn Patterson, Writer

Paris Fashion Week has long since passed as has my memory of almost all of the clothes that were shown on the runway. Truly, the only thing that keeps me up at night is the weird fur ball that Diet Prada showed which literally hit people who were sitting in the front row (if you didn’t see it, please, Google it). 

Other than the fur ball (and the bed bugs), Paris Fashion Week 2023 also stood out through the women that were both attending the shows and running them. Leading the way for women empowerment was Pamela Anderson. In an interview with Vogue, which went viral on TikTok, Anderson proved that she still has what it takes to be the beauty icon she was known for in the 90s. Although now, she is much more in control of how she is seen. 

Pamela Anderson, makeup free, at the Vivienne Westood show, Paris 2023.

Anderson, now 56, attended every show during Paris Fashion Week completely makeup free (pictured above). She had no glam team and simply let her hair naturally air-dry. In an interview with Vogue, she gushed: “I don’t know, something just kind of came over me and I was dressing in these beautiful clothes and I thought, I don’t want to compete with the clothes. I’m not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room. I feel like it’s just freedom. It’s like a relief.”

Anderson got her start in Playboy and is well known for her role in ‘Baywatch’ and is thus no stranger to having to perform in order to maintain the image Hollywood created for her. Similar to many women, she had very little control over her own image. Now, as she is older, she is beginning to make her own rules. Anderson is keenly aware that she is a woman in the public eye and thus thinks it’s her job to be “a model of everything”. And so, “I am just being me.” Something women are often ridiculed for.

This celebration of womanhood was also seen by the many female designers that were present during Paris Fashion Week this year. This year, Dior’s fashion designer,Maria Grazia Chiuri, made her mark at Fashion Week by fighting against the fashion standards that have been projected by the very name she designs for. Chiuri stated that she no longer wants to emphasize the female figure by making the waist as small as possible, which Dior is known for. “The idea that we have of Dior comes from the famous images of the New Look, where what you see is always a silhouette, a body. I want to see instead the woman’s face and think about her personality.” Her collection is inspired by the way that materials change over time, representative of the way that women have changed throughout time as well as celebrating the process of aging. As her models walked, there was a video with images from Elena Bellantoni of caricatures and advertisements from the 60’s that showed “women’s roles”. Chiuri offset it all with hot pink and neon yellow lights in order to celebrate feminine color and juxtapose her neutral colored clothing. Overall, Chiuri wanted her collection to celebrate the inherent beauty of women, aging, and femininity.

Dior Spring/Summer 2024 Women’s ready-to-wear collection. Paris Fashion Week 2023.

Ester Manas’s collection also celebrates women and their bodies as she was insistent on having models that portrayed a variety of bodies rather than the typical models seen during Fashion Weeks. Manas’s collection was inspired by weddings as she is soon to be married to Balthazar Delepierre. Manas is aware that there are rarely “ready-to-wear” collections made for inclusive sizing and set to do just that. “We also liked the idea of the wedding because it is a very inclusive moment where all bodies are represented.” Her clothing and her models were beautiful and fresh to see in comparison to the many other shows during Paris Fashion Week. This collection was seen at the previous Paris Fashion Week, debuting her collection for Fall/Winter of 2023.

Ester Manas Fall/Winter 2023, ready-to-wear collection

These are by no means the only women that have celebrated femininity at Paris Fashion Week and I encourage you to look at the designers who are making their own mark and following their own rules. The fashion industry is known for its lack of inclusivity and its rigid rules despite the purpose of fashion to be a celebration of beauty and individuality. It is important then, to look at those who are trying to do their own thing as it takes incredible bravery to be a woman daring even the smallest acts of rebellion in the face of the public eye.