Janet Jackson’s Cinderella Turn, Nicolas Ghesquiere Does ‘Starmania,’ Olivia Rodrigo Sparks a Rainbow – WWD

CINDERELLA CREW: Thom Browne knows how to put on a great show, and this season he didn’t disappoint. With nearly 60 looks and clocking in at 30 minutes — an eternity in the era of fast-paced runways — Browne offered up a delectable piece of Opera cake with layers and layers of performance art.

It was a play on the classic tale of Cinderella, with Gwendoline Christie swanning up and down the gilded halls to open the show. Models walked in a succession of gowns in confectionery colors and blending eras of history.

Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Doja Cat and Jaden Smith were seated tightly in the front row. “It was dreamy, it was a dreamy show. It’s too soon to say, I’m still in the dream,” Badu said of her impression after the show. But for all the voluminous dresses on parade, she said one of the standout pieces were the high-heeled, square-toed saddle shoes. “The shoe fits — definitely.”

Ever the fashion fan, Jaden Smith was specific. “Number 19,” he told WWD. “It was the draping, it was like a layered dress that was just awesome.”

The gender-fluid show ended with Christie announcing to the audience: “In Thom Browne’s world, all girls and all boys fit inside the shoe.”

Those words resonated with Smith. “I loved the message and I always love the stories that Thom tells in all of his shows. It was beautiful,” he said.

Doja Cat told Badu she was a fan, and the two posed for selfies together, while Jackson went quickly backstage. The group decamped to the balcony overlooking the plaza after the crowds had cleared.

Lee Pace, fresh off of his role in “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,” took in the scene. The film deals with how social media has changed our lives. So what does he think of the selfie spectacle at a fashion show? “There’s so many different ways to look at that whole thing. Some people are really cool with it and some people make fools of themselves. I mean, something like this is so cool, it’s a fun thing to see. It’s like theater,” he said. “I have an Instagram and a Twitter but I’m very neglectful of it.”

Pace just wrapped the second season of Apple TV+’s “Foundation.” This upcoming arc of the sci-fi epic is going to be “really wicked,” he said.

Model and designer Ella Emhoff is rethinking her knitwear line, which she debuted last year. “Right now I’m trying to figure out where it exists in the world. I don’t want it to exist as a traditional fashion brand because my relationship to knitting is so much more than just making collections and making clothing; it’s a lot more community-based and I’m trying to find a way that it can combine both things.”

Emhoff has become a front row regular since she walked her first runway last year, and took in several shows this week. “Half the time it’s market research,” she said. “It’s seeing fabrics, what colors are in and where everyone’s head is at, so then it gives me an idea of what I want to wear — and all the stuff I make is stuff I want to wear,” she said.

She’s working on a scrap yarn project by collecting from other designers as well as donations off of Instagram to create a dress line. “I’m tying them all together. I’m trying to keep it as circular as possible. With knitwear and textiles there is so much waste, so I’m trying to counter that.”

The stepdaughter of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said she’s working in activism, but has no desire to enter politics. “I leave that to the parents.” — RHONDA RICHFORD

STARSTRUCK: Nicolas Ghesquière is turning his hand to stage costumes for the first time. When a new production of 1970s French rock opera “Starmania” — arguably the most famous and successful French musical of all time — hits Paris in November, it will be with costumes from the designer, currently at the helm of Louis Vuitton’s women’s collections.

“Like many, I was nursed in childhood by ‘Starmania,’ it is a work with a visionary dystopian dimension that fascinates me,” Ghesquière stated.

The new production, which opens at the Seine Musicale on Nov. 8 before a national tour from February through June next year, is directed by Thomas Jolly and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

For his costumes, Ghesquière said he wanted to “imagine how the emblematic characters from ‘Starmania’ would be dressed in 2022.” The themes of the musical, he said, “resonate more than ever today, and I wanted to elaborate an ultra-contemporary wardrobe accordingly.”

The costumes are adapted from Ghesquière’s collections at Louis Vuitton as well as some new designs. “Each character embodies one of my collections, like a repertoire of the vocabulary of the house,” he said.

“Starmania,” with music by musician and composer Michel Berger and words by Luc Plamondon, was originally staged in 1978 and many of its songs have since become part of French popular culture. — ALEX WYNNE

HONORING ALBA: God’s Love We Deliver and Michael Kors will host the 2022 Golden Heart Awards on Oct. 17 at 6 p.m.

The event will take place in a hybrid format with both an in-person gala at The Glasshouse in New York, as well as a virtual program for guests tuning in from home.

Winning the Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Leadership is Huma Abedin, an American political staffer who was vice chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and author of “Both/And.”

The Michael Kors Award for Outstanding Philanthropy will go to Jessica Alba, the actress and businesswoman who cofounded the nontoxic household goods start-up The Honest Co. in 2011.

The Golden Heart Award for Mental Health Advocacy will be given to model Bella Hadid, and the Golden Heart Award for Lifetime Achievement will go to Karen Pearl, president and chief executive officer of God’s Love We Deliver.

The 16th annual Golden Heart Awards Celebration will be hosted by Billy Porter. There will be a special musical performance by Lea Michele, who is currently starring as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway.

The cocktail hour, in partnership with the Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle in New York, will feature their signature martini and live entertainment. The night will involve performances and a lineup of Broadway, TV and Hollywood stars. Artist Peter Tunney has also donated an original piece of art, specifically designed for the 2022 gala to be auctioned off at the event.

The event’s honorary chairwoman is Anna Wintour. Co-chairs are Georgina Chapman and Adrien Brody, Alan Cumming, Sutton Foster, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, John Idol, Iman, Michael Kors, Jane Krakowski, Aerin Lauder, Judith Light, Audra McDonald, Ryan Murphy, Craig and Eileen Newmark, Ariana Rockefeller, Jordan Roth, Samantha Rudin, and Blaine Trump.

The Golden Heart Awards raises funds to help support God’s Love We Deliver. The New York City-based nonprofit has been cooking and home-delivering medically tailored meals to individuals with severe and chronic illness since 1985 and has continued to grow during the pandemic. The organization hasn’t missed a single delivery during COVID-19. — LISA LOCKWOOD

LIFE’S A RAINBOW: If Givenchy designer Matthew Williams and producer Etienne Russo had wanted a redemption story arc for their Sunday afternoon show, they achieved it courtesy of a Biblical downpour that took place just before the show. Some very uncomfortable guests were handed clear umbrellas (so as not to block the view) to protect themselves from the deluge. Then, as if on cue, the rain stopped, the sun came out and a rainbow — arc en ciel in French — appeared.

Kanye West took his seat next to Doja Cat at the last minute, dry from visiting Williams backstage before the show.

Olivia Rodrigo, Halsey and Noomi Rapace posed for pics as the sun peeked out.

“There’s a rainbow behind us, which I think is just so perfect. It’s almost like they planned it,” said Rodrigo. The front row was the very first fashion show for the “Drivers Licence” singer. “It’s incredible. I was just like talking about how I dreamed of these moments since I was a little girl and it’s really great to be here.”

“I don’t mind this because this shakes everyone a bit. And it’s like, you know what? This is nature, and this is the world we live in. It’s not perfect,” she said. Rapace has long been friends with Williams and has been trying to attend a show for years but got bogged down with back-to-back shooting schedules. The rain made it all the more memorable.

“We will never forget this show. It adds an element,” she said.

Her series “Django” will have a splashy premiere at the Rome Film Festival later this month, and Rapace is looking forward to reuniting with the cast and crew, including costar Matthias Schoenaerts. “I love my character. She’s a villain with a broken heart. She’s really something different, something very intense,” she said.

“I worked really closely with the writers and added and rewrote a lot of the scenes. I had a crazy dream one night and I told them about it, and they kind of wrote it into the script. It was a very collaborative process, so she’s very much me,” she said.

She did a fitting for her red carpet premiere in Paris, but wouldn’t divulge designer details. Rapace said she was heading back to Berlin after the show to continue shooting her Apple TV+ show “Constellations.”

Maisie Williams also made a last-minute entrance, but just in time for the show.

“It was so emotional it was crazy,” she said afterward. “We were here just in time saw and the whole thing — saw Kanye, it was like aaaaah.”

She was sporting a slicked back, wet-look hairstyle. “I did plan it ahead of time, but as soon as I got out of the car I thought this was a good choice,” she said. She attended the Kenzo party the previous night with bright purple hair and a burgundy beret, but admitted that fun look was a wig.

Williams and her boyfriend Reuben Selby have become fashion week regulars. “I love the experience. I think that it’s such a creative week, and I love everything from the street style to the street photography all the way through to the shows and the sets and the backdrops. It’s just a moment where you really get to see people’s creations come alive.” — RHONDA RICHFORD

DIRK’S ARCHIVES: Bikkembergs is celebrating its heritage by launching an online archive sale.

Starting Tuesday, fans of the brand and its founder Dirk Bikkembergs’ contribution to fashion will be able to purchase pieces drawn from the archives and centered on ‘90s and early Aughts styles.

The sale encompasses original designs first presented on the runway in that period and include a 2006 tank top created for the World Cup won by Italy, a top bearing the brand’s signature Pixel Waves print, as well as a wide range of outerwear pieces such as shearling and duffle coats.

“For me, the past has always held incredible value, because everything we learn comes from there. When it came to selecting the pieces for the Archive project, I started looking back at all the fashion shows, picking the items that best illustrate the brand’s continuity over time, from its origins to the present, all the way through to the future,” said Lee Wood, who has been creative director of Bikkembergs since 2016.

The 53-piece sale will be held for a short period of time and organize over three drops, with prices ranging from 350 euros for T-shirts to 3,900 euros for the oversize shearling coat.

It pays homage to the brand’s founder and his toying with soccer and sports iconography often summarized under the “Sport Couture” moniker. The designer famously tapped soccer champs including Fabrizio Ravanelli and Paolo Cannavaro as models and acquired the FC Fossombrone club in 2005, having the team front campaign imagery.

Wood characterized the items as timeless. “[They are] pieces that don’t need updating for our customers to like them, but simply to be discovered and worn again. They demonstrate, if this were even necessary, that Dirk Bikkembergs has always been ahead of the times.”

The company said the initiative is geared toward younger generations who did not experience the brand’s momentous days firsthand and pays tribute to the city of Antwerp, where Bikkembergs jumpstarted his career as part of the Antwerp Six movement. — MARTINO CARRERA