Who Wore What to This Year’s Paris Debutante Ball
Image Courtesy: Vogue
Every year, the week after Thanksgiving in America, The Paris Debutante Ball is thrown. The ball is a chance for young ladies to get out of their everyday outfits and dress to the nines to introduce themselves to the world. The event is not your standard black-tie event. It's more adjacent to a high fantasy Regency ball. Twenty young women are invited to the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris to show off, wearing gorgeous dressing gowns that catch the eye of high-end fashion magazines, other seminal figures in fashion, and also the everyday social media users who follow each of the ladies, watching closely to see their beautiful transformations.
Each year, the ball supports a different charity, and this year was no different. Aligning with two different charities, the event aimed to fund both the Association of Cardiology Research from Fetus to Adult, or ARCFA, which is focused on improving the care and treatments of children with heart defects, and the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in New York.
Image Courtesy: Vogue
The ball began with a dance, and then each of the debutantes lined up to have dances with their fathers in a heartwarming display of them giving their daughters away to adulthood. Then, of course, came the individual dances with each of the ladies' guests. The whole night was full of dancing and mingling, all to get the names of these women out there and flaunt their wonderful gowns. Speaking of, let’s get to what everyone’s been waiting for... the dresses!
Image Courtesy: Vogue
Let's start with Apple Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter, who seems to be on everyone’s radar now that she attended this ball. Martin wore a baby blue silk gown with a big, black bow made by Alessandro Michele for Valentino. Beautiful and accentuating, the gown took 750 hours to complete!
Next was Lucia Ponti, dressed in a strapless blueish grey and white, lace-covered Armani dress with a decadent emerald necklace. Isabel Quirot wore an interesting, semi-two-piece dress with a black top, meshing covering the stomach, and a white puffy skirt, all connected to a big, puffy bow on the back. Her jewelry was a long, draping necklace and a square piece on the lip of her skirt. In an elaborate, patterned gown, Princess Eugenia de Bourbon stunned in a strapless green-blue piece by Carolina Herrera – and you can’t forget the best part of the outfit, an extravagant tiara.
Image Courtesy: Vogue
Then there was Ella Yam in a long, flowing red Giambattista Valli in a high-low style, full of layered ruffles. Two apparent besties, Oona Finch and Apolloine Halard, posed for a silly picture in their respective Chanel Couture and Schiaparelli gowns. While both dresses were floor-length, Finch’s dress had ruffle layers and Halard's dress was sleek, dual-toned, and form-fitting. Angel Zhang had a simple yet beautiful gown by Alexis Mabille. It was a dark blue piece with puff sleeves lined with flowers underneath a fishnet-esque lace overtop. Countess Alienor Loppin de Montmort had a high-low gown by Emmanuel Ungaro, black and sparkling, full of ruffles and layers, with lace trimming. Madelyn Netto wore a simple, sleek red dress by Georges Hobeika with an accentuating line of buttons running down the back. Mina Muniz Tschape wore a gown with a shaped, square top dipping into her puffed, white skirt, accessorizing with a simple bangle and earrings.
Image Courtesy: Vogue
There are so many more gowns to go over, all gorgeous in their own right, but I couldn’t possibly mention them all. I encourage you to seek out these lovely ladies on social media so that you can see the majority of their gowns for yourself!
Strike Out,
Author: Samantha Getchell
Editor: Grace Groover
Tallahassee