The concept of reawakening sartorial sleeping beauties—that is, archival pieces often shielded from fashion’s spotlight, but nonetheless deserving of it—isn’t limited to the steps of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum of Arts, it seems. As exhibited at this year’s Met Gala and countless red carpets in between, repurposing vintage pieces has become the new marker of fashion know-how. Not only is it the sustainable option, but demonstrates your deep understanding and appreciation for a brand’s heritage, as fashion girls often are.
Yet on the Boulevard de Croisette at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Naomi Campbell has just upped the ante by wearing a Chanel Haute Couture gown from 1996 that she originally debuted on the runway!
The sensual floor-length dress featured a black sequined square-style bodice, straps made of strings of pearls and tesselating black paillettes and sheer black tulle panels. Campbell made some alterations to the look, deciding to forgo the black slip that was originally styled under the skirt in the 90s for just underwear, and swapped her bob for her tumbling curls.
Ironically, the Karl Lagerfeld-designed boudoir slip is older than the film’s lead (Anya Taylor-Joy) at the premiere she was attending (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga). For those who remember seeing the runway images in the September issue of whichever glossy magazine you were reading at the time, (firstly, you might be eligible for prescription retinol), it might come as a surprise to learn how quickly 27 years has flown by.
For context, not only has enough time passed for this piece to be considered vintage. It’s also the same length taken for fellow Cannes Film Festival habitue and friend of Campbell, Leonardo DiCaprio, to break out with Titanic and rise through the ranks of Hollywood to be considered an industry veteran. But what is the Cannes Film Festival if not a display of the intersection of film, fashion and culture?
Joined by her side is one of the biggest peddlers of this, Law Roach. Through his work architecting Zendaya’s image, he’s become one of the most prolific voices in fashion, using the currency of method dressing to show how characters can exist off the screen, too.
Roach is behind some of the most memorable vintage fashion moments ever to grace the Côte d’Azur—see: Bella Hadid in Versace from 1987 and Tom Ford for Gucci—so it’s only fitting for him to have styled one of the original supermodels in this piece.
There’s no information on where this gown was plucked from. Nevertheless, this is a lesson in preserving outfits from your 20s. They might not be Chanel, but come 2051, they’ll be ripe for a revival.
