Here's what we love about the dreamy Penélope Cruz-Brad Pitt Chanel film at Paris Fashion Week ’24

As the guests at Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2024/25 Ready-to-Wear showcase at Paris Fashion Week settled into their seats and waited for the show to begin, they were presented with a surprise. The lights dimmed and the massive plasma screen above the runway lit up with a black and white short film starring Penélope Cruz and Brad Pitt.

Set in the Normandy seaside town of Deauville, the movie has the duo gazing lovingly at each other in the car, frolicking on the beach, and bantering flirtatiously over an order of medium-rare Chateaubriand steak. Cruz was dressed in an elegant black polo neck dress and delicate diamonds, while Pitt looked every bit the dapper lead in a white shirt, V-neck sweater, and a coat to keep the wind away. The film, directed by Dutch-American fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh, is based on a formative scene from the iconic 1966 French movie Un Homme et Une Femme (A Man and a Woman) by director Claude Lelouch, who was also in attendance at the show as a guest of honour. 

The original movie was shot in Deauville and was also the focal point of Chanel’s Fall-Winter collection by Virginie Viard. For, it was in this idyllic town that Coco Chanel opened her boutique in 1912, from where she sold her radical gender-fluid silhouettes and hats. When corseted dressing was still the norm for women of that era, Chanel promoted comfortable clothes through her relaxed pyjama-like trousers, long belted cardigans, and blouses that had collars inspired by sailor.

The Fall-Winter collection featured similar pieces, as a direct nod to the brand’s Deauville connection. Giant wide-brimmed hats, oversized sailor sweaters, belted coats, and more in the shades of soft pinks, pastel blues, and corals conjured the romantic sunsets seen from the town’s boardwalk. Black ribbon bows and quilted bags inspired by the saddlecloths of jockeys at the Deauville racecourse were among the other highlights. The showcase was decidedly understated compared to the opulence of Karl Lagerfield’s collections, on brand for Viard who has a less formal, more easy-going approach. 

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