What Is Vogue World: Paris? The Stories and Mood Boards Behind This Once-in-a-Lifetime Event

Two fictional characters informed the gear worn by cyclists from the French national team. Their mask-like headwear nods to an antihero of crime fiction dreamed up by writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas. “He’s clearly a thief but a very chic thief,” jokes Samson. The oil black silk bodysuits reference the getup of silent-film actor Musidora (a.k.a. Jeanne Roques), who is especially known for playing the vampish Irma Vep in Les Vampires.

1930s: Track and Field

Cristóbal Balenciaga moved his couture house in 1937, and the following looks by the current creative director, Demna, are re-creations that he oversaw of two looks lost to time. Using photographs, a sketch, and a newspaper clipping, the house resurrected a Velásquez-inspired fringe dress from fall 1939 and a graphic stunner in black and white slipper satin from fall 1940. Read more here.

Balenciaga by Demna

The remake of Balenciaga’s fall 1940 couture dress

The remake of the Balenciaga fall 1939 couture dress

A series of looks in black and white evoke Old Hollywood glamour.

Mad for Madeleine Vionnet

Madeleine Vionnet is credited with mastering the bias-cutting technique that defined, in part, the long, sensuous silhouette of the ’30s. Her kind of glamour was inimitable and based on technique. Maison Margiela’s 2024 couture look nods to Vionnet.

Homage à Dietrich

“In the ’30s Marlene Dietrich was forbidden to enter Paris by the mayor because she wore pants,” Samson says.

Snazzy Schiaparelli

The house of Schiaparelli moved to the Place Vendôme in 1935. The Italian-born designer was noted for her penchant for waist-up dressing and her witty collaborations with the Surrealists. A skeleton dress made with Salvador Dalí in 1938 has been reinterpreted by the current creative director, Daniel Roseberry. Read more about Schiaparelli.

FKA twigs Causes a Flap in Alexandre Vauthier

“Wearing head-to-toe Alexandre Vauthier, she brought a modern-day flapper energy to the Les Années Folles section of the evening, posing and vamping around the Colonne Vendôme in the maison’s vertiginous platforms,” wrote Hayley Maitland. Read more here.

FKA twigs in Alexandre Vauthier

Photo: F.Fior – I.Montag – A.Lucioni – D.Oberrauch – S.Dragone / Gorunway.com

Maluma Out-Gatsbys Gatsby in Thom Browne

Maluma in Thom Browne

Photo: F.Fior – I.Montag – A.Lucioni – D.Oberrauch – S.Dragone / Gorunway.com

The Mad Dash: Course de Garçons de Café

“I was wondering how we could connect track and field with fashion and Paris,” Samson says, “and I remember that in every city in France since the beginning of the 20th century, there is a run, Course des Cafés. Each café brings one waiter with a tray, some glasses, water, and wine, and the waiters compete by speed walking in the streets. It was just relaunched in Paris two months ago.”

The participants represented 16 Parisian cafés and wore Fursac outfits.

Photo: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

1940s: Aquatics

This section of the show was “very South of France inspired,” said Samson. The stripes “are emblematic of the French beach houses, and it is also the 10-year anniversary of a collection from Jacquemus called Les Parasols de Marseille. These parasols always have big stripes, so we asked him if we could give this a modern take [and consider] the influence with the bikini.”

“Right after the war in 1946, just before the New Look, people really struggled, of course, but wanted some lightness,” says Samson. “The bikini was designed in 1946 by two designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard.” Synchronized swimming and Esther Williams’s movies were also touchstones.