A truly chic crowd gathered at the newly restored Grand Palais on a gloriously sunny October morning in Paris to celebrate Chanel's Spring/Summer 2025 collection. It was the final day of Paris Fashion Week, but spirits were high as this was the first collection the brand presented in the iconic French landmark in more than five years. Among the guests? Newly appointed brand ambassador Lupita Nyong'o, filmmaker Greta Gerwig and singer and actress Riley Keough, who sang a version of Prince's “When Doves Cry” as models marched down the runway for the collections finale while wearing a white Wooden table rocks in a giant birdcage, an homage to the 1999 advert starring Vanessa Paradis.

“Oh my God, (Riley) is incredible,” raved Margaret Qualley, who The substance Actress who sat front row in an all-white ensemble from the brand. “She's like old Hollywood glamor, so classy, ​​and this incredible jazz singer. It's amazing.” Australian actress Odessa Young, who also sat in the front row, shared this opinion. “I had a tear in my eye,” said Young, wearing trousers and a tweed coat with flash lapels from the Manchester Cruise collection ELLE Australia. Young and Keough worked together on the film 2023 Manodromein which Young starred and Keough produced. “She made me fall even more in love with her than I was.”

The fashion itself was particularly fresh and youthful, a remarkable achievement considering that the collection was designed by the brand's in-house ateliers, as Chanel is still among the creative directors (Virginie Viard left the house after five years in April and despite one … speculation during Paris Fashion Week, a successor has not yet been determined). “I like how simple and timeless the clothes are,” said Qualley, who opened the brand’s Spring/Summer 2024 haute couture show in Paris in January and was later named the house’s brand ambassador. “This collection was so beautiful. It's so cool to be back at the Grand Palais and I love the openness and airiness of the set. I mean, the birdcage is pretty amazing.”

For Odessa Young, who was recently announced as the female lead in an upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic opposite Jeremy Allen White, the drop-waist, Victorian-style skirts were a personal favorite. “I love the birdcage skirts with the sheer fabric over the drop waist,” she explains. “Chanel has been around for more than a century and has always remained elegant and always relevant. I don't think there's ever been a time in the brand's history where I didn't want to wear the clothes.

It's special for Qualley to be back in Paris, where she filmed the vivid body horror directed by Coralie Forgeat The substance with Demi Moore. A razor-sharp commentary on the unfair beauty standards placed on aging women, The substance has become an overnight cult sensation and Qualley's character “Sue” is an internet favorite. “It's great that people are responding to this,” Qualley says of the feedback The substance. “I couldn't love Demi Moore more, so I'm so happy for her. I find them endlessly inspiring.”