Celine Dion is Going Through It at Paris Couture Week
When was the last time you saw someone appreciate couture this much?
Celebrities and Fashion Week are like peanut butter and jelly, or Klonopin and a soft blanket: one of those pairings that’s just meant to be. From Cam’ron to Frank Ocean, famous people have long flocked to the front rows of Vuitton as the kind of status symbol that merely owning a Vuitton bag can never hope to be. Look at us, we’re beautiful, the front-row celebrities seem to say, one elbow dangerously close to Anna Wintour’s bubble of personal space.
When it comes to Celine Dion, though, all the Fashion Week rules are thrown out the window. While the general code of couture conduct demands guests remain cooler-than-thou as they watch models strut down the runway in Balmain orbs and Givenchy bow backpacks, Mme. Dion has remained nothing short of delighted throughout the entirety of Paris Fashion Week.
In the above video captured by GARAGE deputy editor Rachel Tashjian, Dion appears to be moved almost to the point of dance by the Armani show unfolding in front of her.
Personally, I like to think of the little wrist flourish as the couture answer to the spicy meatball meme. The small smile that spreads across Dion’s face at 0:03 is, to paraphrase The Virgin Suicides paraphrasing T.S. Eliot, “the still point of the turning world.”
Armani wasn’t the only house to win Dion’s heartfelt approval, though. Valentino’s use of Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” brought Dion to tears—understandably so, since it was the song to which Dion and late husband René Angélil had their first dance.
WSJ magazine style director David Thielebeule captured Dion in a more composed moment, stone-faced and sparkling in black as heavily accented French photographers shout for her to turn “zis way, Celeen, s’il vous plait!” Her expression is serious in the video, but she’s clearly loving the hubbub.
It’s easy to develop a sense of Paris Fashion Week ennui—it’s crowded! It’s cold! And other things I assume people complain about, because despite my posturing, I’ve never actually been!—but seeing a seasoned pro like Dion refuse to lose her sense of wonder is genuinely heartwarming, reminding us all of just how exciting, cathartic, and plainly extra fashion can be. I can only pray Dion will decide to celebrate her favorite looks for this season in another seminal Vogue video.
