Fashion Week Outfits That Should Never Be Forgotten Part 4: Paris
This is a two-for-one.
In honor of Spring / Summer 2023 fashion weeks around the world and my panging nostalgia, I'm looking back at some of the fashion week attendee outfits that have been on my mood board for decades. They weren't always opulent, or even that unique, but they represented a type of style that we can't forget
Zoe Kravitz was somewhat of a Paris Fashion Week staple in the early years of her acting career. She would sit front row next to dad, Lenny Kravitz, and the two would have a moment as the most stylish father-daughter duo in the city. One outfit that I’ll never forget was what she wore to the PFW Spring Summer 2009 Chanel show.
For this event, Zoe wore a houndstooth strapless mini-dress with the Chanel logo emblazoned on the top. I was weirdly obsessed with bold houndstooth print in the '00s, so this look captured my 17-year-old heart. She also had on white tights and black booties. They were a choice, to be sure, but quintessential Chanel none-the-less. She accessorized with Chanel costume jewelry, wayfarers, and oui oui, a beret, of course.
Zoe Kravitz at Chanel during Paris Fashion Week in 2008. via Getty Images
Surprise! This post is a double feature because later that same week, Kravitz took on another front row, wearing what may be the most 2008 look I have ever seen in my life. At Stella McCartney, she wore a silk tank top tucked into a tight red skirt that was accessorized with a butterfly waist belt. She paired this with black tights and platform stilettos below the ankle boots ala Lady Gaga in her Fame Monster era. She also went full fashion week wearing her teal rounded sunglasses front row.
Zoe Kravitz at Stella McCartney during Paris Fashion Week in 2008. via Getty Images
See, this is the thing about 2000s fashion that I think gets missed. It wasn’t that it was bad, it was just so much piling on of the plainest things in the weirdest cuts that it bordered on ridiculous. In a fashion week context, it's both amazingly unfiltered and perfectly dated.
Read more from this fashion week looks series:
Fashion Week Outfits That Should Never Be Forgotten Part 3: Milan
Fashion Week Outfits That Should Never Be Forgotten Part 2: London
Fashion Week Outfits That Should Never Be Forgotten Part 1: New York
******************************************************************************
Thank you for reading!!
This Stuff is a newsletter by me! fashion journalist, Alyssa Hardy. Three times a week, I unpack the ways our clothes impact the world through news, essays, interviews and more. Subscribe for free here and follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
You can preorder my book "Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion's Sins" here.
