The references encoded within Vogue World: Paris run the gamut from the midcentury craze for synchronized swimming (encouraged by Esther Williams’s Hollywood “aqua musicals”—see: Million Dollar Mermaid) to the Japanese designers who reinvigorated Paris fashion in the 1980s (Issey and Yohji and Rei, oh my!). Marginally more obscure, at least to non-French spectators: the nod to the Course des Cafés in the portion of the show that interweaves ’30s-inflected fashion and stars of track and field.
During the Course proper, hundreds of Parisian waiters race along a 1.2-mile track through the streets of the Marais while carrying a tray with a glass of water, an espresso cup, and a croissant on it. No running is allowed, nor is spilling so much as a drop of liquid, or the contestant is disqualified. (If this sounds difficult, consider the fact that waiters had to carry a bottle of wine and three glasses for nearly five miles in early iterations of the race in the 1910s.) Despite being a more than century-old practice, the event hasn’t been held in Paris for the last decade or so due to a lack of sponsors, but was revived with support from the Hôtel de Ville in March.
On Place Vendôme, Vogue paid tribute to the tradition by having 15 dancers dart around the square wearing waiter jackets and bow-ties by Fursac, flanked by models in ’30s-esque silhouettes and track-and-field champions Rouguy Diallo, Cassandra Delaunay, Alessia Zarbo, Nawal Meniker, and Emilie Girard. Athletics and the fashion industry entre deux guerres have a natural synergy: while the classical world heavily influenced the era’s designs (see the “goddess” gowns produced by Vionnet and Schiaparelli), the origins of track and field can be traced all the way back to the Peloponnese in 776 BC.
Also of note from a fashion history perspective during the ’30s? Cristóbal Balenciaga’s debut in Paris, with Vogue praising the Spanish designer’s “knack for innocent young clothes” a few months after he opened his ateliers on Avenue George V in August 1937. It’s Balenciaga’s reigning creative director Demna who devised the looks worn to open the ’30s-themed act of Vogue World tonight, two of which are recreations of gowns from Cristóbal’s first Parisian collections.
See All of the Celebrity Looks From the Vogue World Paris 2024 Red Carpet:
Vogue World Paris 2024: See Every Celebrity Arrival, Read the Latest Stories, and Get Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Access Here