Balenciaga is always a highlight of Paris Fashion Week—in no small part because of its model casting. Each season, you never know who will walk down the runway wearing Demna’s designs. Offset? Nicole Kidman? For the designer’s spring 2024 collection today, the cast was a gift to fashion nerds, uplifting well-known figures in the industry ranging from the high-profile (Kim Kardashian) to the lesser known (Robin Meason, Balenciaga’s global PR director). Demna had his mother open the show in a navy tench coat.
Celebrities on the runway are nothing new at Fashion Week (see: Tallulah Willis at Collina Strada and Natalia Bryant at Versace), but Demna chose A-listers—Kardashian and singer-songwriter Yseult—who have long-standing relationships with the house. (Kardashian, though, only appeared in the lookbook; She did not walk the show.) He also took a different approach by casting creatives who quite literally run fashion. Cathy Horyn—the legendary fashion critic for the Cut—walked the show wearing a chic oversized suit and turtleneck. Meason wore an oversized bomber jacket, while Lionel Vermeil—the director of fashion and luxury intelligence at Kering, Balenciaga’s parent company—sported a checked trench coat and fuzzy slide sandals.
There were also some cult favorites in the mix. New York nightlife fixture Amanda Lepore had the crowd buzzing with excitement when she strutted down the catwalk in a black lace gown—her Old Hollywood hairstyle in full effect. Writer Diane Pernet—who is often credited as the first fashion blogger—sported a leather trench coat and her signature headscarf, though she went without her iconic black veil. The dramatic ending? Demna’s husband, Loïk Gomez, in a white wedding gown and veil.
