Manu Ríos, Manu Gavassi and Alexa Chung Attend Paco Rabanne’s Fame Party
Thankfully, there were no metal detectors to pass through to enter Paco Rabanne’s party Thursday night to celebrate its new women’s fragrance Fame, because otherwise a large number of guests sporting the brand’s iconic chainmail fashion and accessories would have been turned away.
Instead, invitees poured steadily into the stately Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild building on Paris’ Right Bank. There, the grand stairwell festooned with flowers led partygoers into the vast rooms to sip cocktails and mingle, while others sat at tables in the lush garden out back.
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What is fame to them?
“Fame is what everybody wants to have these days,” said Ellen von Unwerth, with a laugh. The German photographer is working on a book about supermodels.
“Everybody’s still obsessed with them, and I have so many pictures from that time,” she said, adding the tome should be released by yearend.
Spanish model and actor Manu Ríos had just wrapped the Netflix thriller TV series “El Silencio.”
“Then I just made one of my dreams come true, which is working with Pedro Almadóvar. He’s one of my favorite directors,” Ríos said. “It’s just so special for me to work with him. We just finished filming something beautiful, and I’m just really proud and happy.”
Ríos said he tries not to give fame as much importance as others might.
“If there is something special about you, I think that is the most important,” he said. “If you can get to people, change their vision, spread a positive message, just be yourself and have fun, that’s more important for me than fame. That way, you feel empowered.”
French singer Carla Bruni said on a personal level, fame “doesn’t mean much, because no matter how famous or not famous you are, it doesn’t make your life.”
She continues working on her own music and has a few gigs here and there.
Australian actress Maddison Brown said she generally doesn’t have fame in mind, “until someone comes up to me and they say: I love you in ‘Dynasty,’ and then to me fame is about connecting with people.”
Brown first came upon Paco Rabanne in the pages of Vogue, she said.
British multihyphenate Alexa Chung said she’s a longtime fan of Paco Rabanne, too. “I love Françoise Hardy,” she said, of the French chanteuse who famously wore the brand, and also cited Jane Fonda in “Barbarella.”
French influencer Léna Mahfouf was in attendance, as well. “I just launched my brand, on the first of August,” she said, of the clothing and lifestyle label made in Europe. “I’m the only one behind it. I feel like I’m learning new stuff, which is very fun.”
Other guests included Manu Gavassi, Rina Lipa and Ísis Valverde.
The party thrummed with music spun by DJs Miss Honey Dijon, Chloé Caillet and Mona. Bottles of Fame, coming in a robot shape decked out in a chainmail dress, big shades and signature Paco Rabanne boots, in large and small sizes, decorated rooms.
Iconic Paco Rabanne dresses were on display, too, as were famous photos, such as one of Jane Birkin in a sparky shift with Serge Gainsbourg, and another of Brigitte Bardot in a chainmail number.
Elle Fanning fronts the Fame scent, which is meant to herald in a new era of women’s fragrances for Puig-owned Paco Rabanne. The fragrance prelaunched on July 1 in travel retail worldwide and on the brand’s e-boutique, before being introduced in Europe and Latin America in September.
Launch Gallery: Inside Paco Rabanne’s Fame Party
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