Le Scandale

While the rest of the world shut down, many members of Paris’s fashion elite refused to let the pandemic get in the way of a good time

- Roxanne Robinson

The nights were hectic with dinners and cocktail events. In early July, as Paris celebrated the return to in-person fashion shows at its semi-annual couture event, Giorgio Armani, who had been among the first Italian designers to cancel his show in February 2020 as the pandemic first surfaced in Milan, staged an intimate runway show and gathering at the Italian Embassy. One guest remarked on Instagram what a thrill it was to catch a glimpse of the designer up close. Even as a dinner took place outside on the grand hotel particulier’s grounds, images from inside showed a packed staircase full of guests and crew members overlooking a crowded entryway full of unmasked models. Elsewhere, Mick Jagger mixed with models in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga staged significant runway shows, signalling an immediate return to a business model that many industry insiders had predicted would become extinct in a post-pandemic world.

In fashion, it was as if the past 18 months had never happened.