News that Chanel was holding its cruise show in Biarritz at the Art Deco casino spread like wildfire, ensuring there was a solid crowd waiting to spot guests entering the venue.
The celebrities were spread across the day’s two shows, with Marion Cotillard and Sofia Coppola among the morning contingent, and Nicole Kidman, A$AP Rocky, Michaela Coel and Tilda Swinton joining the afternoon crowd.
The night before, Kidman attended a welcome cocktail held at the town’s covered food market, delighting locals by posing for selfies outside.
“I’ve been here before, so this isn’t my first time, and I’ve holidayed here, but it was just so lovely being able to walk into that food hall and see all of that gorgeous cheese and the vegetables and the produce. I wanted to take it all home. I actually want to move here,” she quipped.
Though she was feeling a little sun-shy on the terrace in her backless black dress, the fair-skinned Australian actress jumped at the chance to take an early-season dip. “I went swimming this morning and I went swimming last night,” she shared. “I never miss a chance to get in the sea.”
Having worked with Chanel on and off since her era-defining N°5 fragrance ad in 2004, the “Babygirl” star is all-in with creative director Matthieu Blazy’s new direction. “Everything is so exquisitely made and so comfortable and wearable, and yet chic,” Kidman said.
A$AP Rocky, Michaela Coel, Tilda Swinton and Nicole Kidman.
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Her younger relatives have also succumbed to Chanelmania. “My niece and my daughter and all of them, they’re just in love with Chanel, and that means he’s expanding it to all ages as well, which is fantastic,” Kidman noted.
Her latest project, the Apple TV series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” meant a change in wardrobe register, since the character she plays is a former pro wrestler, with the gaudy outfits to match. Training for the shoot left Kidman bruised, but wiser.
“It’s insanely hard, but it’s also performative. In this glorious way, it’s like showmanship — almost so it has a little circus vibe to it,” she mused.
“But it’s still rigorous, and you really have to be in shape. The ropes hurt when you land against them. I was like, ‘Sure, fling me against the ropes,’ and then I’m like, ‘Whoa, OK, I got it,’” she said with a rueful laugh.
After the show, Kidman caught up with fellow brand ambassador Rocky, who leaned over a terrace railing overlooking the beach to wave to cheering onlookers. The rapper and designer was touting a pink Chanel bag with matching baby shoe charms, like the ones sported by pregnant model Kaya Wilkins on the runway.
“It’s a gift from Matthieu. He’s so thoughtful,” said the performer, who has three children with Rihanna, including 6-month-old Rocki. “I’m gonna give these to my daughter.”
Sofia Coppola and Marion Cotillard
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Mother and baby recently posed for W, marking Rocki’s first magazine cover. “I’m still processing it. They so cute — cute overload, you know what I mean? I was just a happy dad,” Rocky gushed.
Following the release of “Don’t Be Dumb,” his first album in eight years, he’s gearing up for a concert tour kicking off in Oakland in May. “First you gotta mentally prepare for it, then you physically prepare for it, then you sonically and creatively prepare for it. So right now, I’m in the mental part,” he said.
Swinton was just back from Sri Lanka, where she began work on her latest collaboration with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
While her next projects are still under wraps, she professed surprise that Ralph Fiennes recently suggested she would be a good candidate to replace him in the role of Voldemort in HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series. “Did he? Madman,” Swinton exclaimed. “That is very, very funny, and I don’t have any thoughts beyond that.”
The actress also brushed off suggestions that she could one day play Coco Chanel, the legendary designer who opened her first couture house in Biarritz in 1915. “I have much too much respect for Coco Chanel to think of playing her. I think she should play herself, as she is doing constantly through the pen of Matthieu Blazy,” she demurred.
Tilda Swinton
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