It was a warm October night in Paris. A crowd had gathered along a glassy black runway beneath a gold-lit Eiffel Tower. For the 2023 incarnation of L’Oréal’s Le Défilé Walk Your Worth showcase, the cosmetics house had assembled a glamorous cast – Kendall Jenner, Andie MacDowell, Viola Davis and Eva Longoria among them. And the most striking pairing of all: Elle Fanning, 25, in floor-length, gold chiffon, hand in hand with Dame Helen Mirren, 78, her long mane crimped, wild and back-combed, wearing a river of metallic sequins, belted at the waist. She was a shiny, silver bombshell.
The words “SISTERS AND STRONG” flashed on the screen behind them, in something like ’80s Wham! “CHOOSE LIFE” block-caps. Then their hands fell free and each owned the runway solo, Dame Helen radiating joy, a hint of mischief in her smile, a playful flip of a floor-length sleeve, and at the last moment blowing a kiss to the A-list crowd, which was spellbound, again. Because who could forget Helen’s appearance on the runway in 2017, dressed in widelegged checked pants and a black trenchcoat cinched at the waist, swinging a rather elegant cane? Jane Fonda also walked that year for L’Oréal. In the front row, Naomi Campbell could barely contain her excitement.
“It’s about bloody time,” Helen said of the change in the fashion and beauty industry that her runway appearance reflected. “I thought, at last, there has been a shift – I’m talking about age and beauty, but also diversity.”
Helen Mirren is having a moment. Indeed, she’s been having a moment for
