Kendall Jenner, Heidi Klum & Jane Fonda Light Up L’Oréal Paris Fashion Week Show

Paris Fashion Week always finds a way to one-up itself, but on Monday night (September 28), the bar got set somewhere around the top of the Eiffel Tower — literally. With the illuminated landmark glittering behind them at Place Joffre, Kendall Jenner, Heidi Klum, Jane Fonda, and a small army of famous faces turned the annual Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris show into the most star-packed runway of the season.

The event, titled “Express Your Worth” for its ninth edition, has quietly become the unofficial kickoff party of fashion week — equal parts beauty campaign, concert, and celebrity parade. And this year’s lineup was the strongest yet: Kristen Bell, Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Anitta, Simone Ashley, Andie MacDowell, Eva Longoria, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Mika Abdalla, Jacob Rott, Aja Naomi King, and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn all walked, joined by a few familiar faces from seasons past.

Kendall Jenner Opens the Show

All eyes were on Kendall Jenner to start the night — and she made sure they stayed there. The 30-year-old supermodel opened the show in a sheer black gown with a high neckline and a thigh-high slit that did exactly what an opening look is supposed to do: make everyone put their phones down and look up.

She paired the dress with simple black sandals, letting the dress do all the talking. And honestly? The dress was loud enough. The sheer fabric, the slit, the neckline — it was one of those looks that lands somewhere between “red carpet elegant” and “runway dangerous,” and Kendall wore it like she’d been doing this in her sleep. Which, to be fair, she basically has.

This isn’t new territory for Kendall. She’s walked the Le Défilé runway before — she opened last year’s edition too — and the L’Oréal gig has become one of those recurring calendar dates in her fashion week orbit, alongside her usual run of major designer shows. What makes this one different is the context: it’s not a designer casting her because she sells front rows (though she does), it’s a brand celebrating its ambassadors. Kendall opened alongside women with Oscar trophies, Emmy nominations, and Olympic medals. Different lane, same strut.

There’s also the timing. The model had already been on the runway in Milan earlier in the week — Paris is the second city of her fashion week circuit, and by Monday night she’d earned that slightly-tired-but-still-glowing look that comes from doing three shows in four days.

The Lineup: From Jane Fonda to Lindsey Vonn

What makes Le Défilé fun — and honestly kind of radical in a low-key way — is the casting. Where else are you going to see Jane Fonda and Cara Delevingne on the same runway within minutes of each other?

Fonda, who has been a L’Oréal Paris ambassador since 2014, is proof that the brand actually means it when it talks about women across generations. She’s been doing this for decades — the modeling, the activism, the “I’m still here and I still matter” energy — and she carries it onto the runway like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Because for her, it is.

Heidi Klum, never one to be outshone on a runway, brought her usual brand of unapologetic confidence. Between her and Fonda, the veteran contingent was extremely well represented. Heidi’s been a fixture of fashion television and runways for the better part of three decades, and she still walks like she owns the place.

On the actress side, Viola Davis and Andie MacDowell gave the show its prestige-heavyweight energy. MacDowell, another longtime L’Oréal ambassador, has become the event’s emotional anchor over the years — the one whose walk everyone cheers a little louder for. Davis, meanwhile, brings that rare thing: a performer whose presence can silence a room, even one full of flashing cameras and a very loud crowd.

Eva Longoria, who has been with the brand since 2005, is basically Le Défilé royalty at this point. Kristen Bell, on the other hand, was the new kid on the block — the actress made her debut on the brand’s runway after being named a global ambassador back in August. The Frozen and Nobody Wants This star has been having a banner year, and walking the Eiffel Tower runway in her first L’Oréal show felt like a well-timed victory lap.

And then there were the wildcard picks that made it interesting: Anitta, who has become Paris Fashion Week’s resident party-starter; Simone Ashley, who brought the Bridgerton-era polish; and Lindsey Vonn, proving that Olympic athletes walk a runway with a slightly different — and frankly refreshing — energy than professional models. No one coasts on angles when they can coast on confidence.

Céline Dion Steals the Finale

If the runway was the main course, the finale was the surprise dessert nobody saw coming. Just when the crowd thought the show was winding down, Céline Dion appeared — and suddenly the runway was a concert.

The singer performed “I’m Alive,” her 2002 hit, with the entire cast of models and actresses joining her on the runway for the finale. It was one of those moments where the show stops being a show and becomes an experience — the models dancing, the crowd losing it, the Eiffel Tower doing its light show in the background.

Dion is currently in Paris for a concert residency that began earlier this month, so the timing worked out perfectly — but nobody expected her to turn up at a beauty brand runway show. It’s the kind of cameo that sounds random on paper and makes total sense in person. Paris. The Eiffel Tower. Céline Dion. The French have a word for it, and it’s probably “évident.”

The surprise appearance also gave the night its most shareable moment. While the runway walks will live on in look-books and Getty archives, the footage of Céline belting “I’m Alive” while Kendall, Heidi, Jane, and the whole crew danced behind her is the clip that’ll be looping on social media for days.

What “Express Your Worth” Actually Means This Year

Here’s the thing about Le Défilé: it’s easy to dismiss as a marketing stunt — a beauty brand putting famous women on a runway in front of the Eiffel Tower and calling it empowerment. But nine editions in, the concept has developed a rhythm that actually works.

According to L’Oréal Paris, this year’s theme celebrated women across generations and backgrounds, with a focus on empowerment and inclusion. And the casting backed it up. We’re talking about a runway where the age range spans from Gen-Z actresses to Jane Fonda. Where the lineup mixes supermodels, Oscar winners, singers, and athletes without anyone looking out of place. In an industry that still treats “diverse casting” as a box to check, this show makes it feel like the whole point.

The event also keeps growing as a fashion week institution. It’s free to attend — no invites, no velvet ropes, just thousands of people gathered at Place Joffre watching famous women walk past the Eiffel Tower. That’s a deliberate choice, and a smart one. In a week dominated by exclusive guest lists and private shows, Le Défilé is the rare event that treats the public like they belong there.

And the commercial math works. L’Oréal Paris gets its ambassadors in one place, in one night, in front of a monument that photographs like a dream. The ambassadors get a runway moment that feels fun instead of corporate. Everybody wins, and the footage looks incredible.

A Fashion Week Moment That Matters

Strip away the sparkle and the celebrity cameos, and what you’re left with is a genuinely unusual sight in fashion: a runway that reflects something closer to the real world. The women who walked on Monday night aren’t aspirational in the old, one-note way. They’re aspirational because they’ve done things — won awards, broken records, raised families, reinvented themselves, come back from injuries and setbacks and industry indifference.

Jane Fonda on that runway isn’t just a celebrity appearance. It’s a statement. Kendall Jenner opening isn’t just a booking. It’s the brand handing its biggest moment to someone who could open any show in the world and chose this one. Kristen Bell making her debut isn’t just a photo op. It’s a new ambassador being welcomed into the fold in front of a few thousand people and a tower full of lights.

That’s why Le Défilé keeps working, nine years in. It’s not really about the dresses — though the dresses were great. It’s about the message that lands somewhere between the runway and the Eiffel Tower: that worth doesn’t expire, doesn’t fit one mold, and definitely doesn’t need a velvet rope. “Express Your Worth” might be a slogan, but on Monday night, under those lights, it actually looked like a promise.

Paris Fashion Week continues through the weekend, and the bar for star power has been set. Good luck to every other show trying to top a finale that ended with Céline Dion.

Source: Just Jared