PARIS – The grand staircase at the Opéra Garnier in Paris resembled a giant photo shoot on Saturday night as guests poured in for the 12th annual fundraising gala for the Paris Opera Ballet, with Chanel and Rolex as the headline sponsors.
Already immensely photogenic, the staircase was decked out with otherworldly floral garlands on the banisters and punctuated with a giant spiky dahlia over the theater entrance. The decor winked to the wondrous, fairy-tale leanings of Chanel‘s creative director Matthieu Blazy, who also designed costumes for some of the performers.
Incorporating performances, free-flowing Taittinger Champagne and an after-party, the event raised approximately 1.8 million euros in support of the Paris Opera’s activities.
Germain Louvet, who danced in “Rings of Saturn” opposite fellow étoile Hugo Marchand, said the new eight-minute piece by Brazilian choreographer Juliano Nuñes would be reprised next spring in the United States when the Paris Opera Ballet goes on tour.
On stage, both men wore Chanel outfits by Blazy – ragged stripes decorating their roomy black shirts – and they linked arms and lifted each other in mesmerizing ways.
For the gala dinner, held in the gilded Grand Foyer, Marchand changed into an Hermès tuxedo, while Louvet opted for an asymmetrical black suit by Alainpaul. In lieu of a bowtie, he added a sparkly brooch from Dior.
Bold-face names in the crowd included Wes Anderson, Charlotte Casiraghi, Euzhan Palcy, Chiara Mastroianni, Ana Girardot, Bhavita Mandava and Setsuko Klossowska de Rola.
Casiraghi was particularly happy to see Jean-Christophe Maillot’s “Vers Un Pays Sage,” an homage to his father, the painter Jean Maillot, originally created in 1995 for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the dance company founded by her mother, Princess Caroline of Monaco.
“That was really beautiful, because I’d already seen this ballet performed several times, and it was moving to see it at the Opera,” she said. “It’s very demanding to dance, very technical, and yet also so poetic and beautiful – something I was happy to rediscover tonight.”
Anderson had a preference for “Busk” by Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton, in which dancers dressed in baggy hoodies incorporated elements of hip-hop and mime, against a score ranging from Swedish choral music to street percussion.
“It’s so many things. I mean, it’s a whole cycle of dances, but it’s like gymnastics sometimes,” he mused.
“I didn’t really know anything going in,” Anderson continued. “The odd combination of those dances performed by this company is really quite unique. I thought the whole night was very moving.”
As a former ballet dancer himself, designer Alain Paul especially enjoyed the traditional Défilé du Ballet, during which principals, soloists, junior members and students pour out in symmetrical rows of quivering tutus and gleaming tights.
“It always takes me back to how I grew up too, and to this world of discipline, but also of sharing and creating together,” he said. “Every time you see this community of dancers together, sharing their passion, I find it so incredible – and it needs to be protected.”
The diversity of the program was especially rewarding, he said. “That’s the strength of an institution like the Paris Opera: being able to cultivate that diversity while having such a high level of technical expertise that its dancers can do anything.”
The performance was especially memorable as the 19th-century Palais Garnier will be closed from summer 2027 due to extensive renovation works. As a result, next year’s opening gala will be held at the modern Opéra Bastille building, which opened in 1990.