It takes a certain kind of confidence to wear a dress already immortalised by one of fashion's most enduring icons — and then show up to Paris Fashion Week days later having quietly overhauled your entire look. But then, Hailey Bieber has never been one to do things by halves.
The Dress That Started It All
Last week, Bieber attended a private party at Harry's Bar in Mayfair — the occasion being a celebration of Michael Ratner's entertainment company OBB arriving in London — wearing a piece that stopped people in their tracks the moment its provenance was confirmed. The champagne-coloured, bias-cut, crystal-embellished slip was a Cerruti by Narciso Rodriguez spring/summer 1997 design, sourced from My Runway Archive, and confirmed to be the very same style worn by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy to her wedding rehearsal dinner in 1996.
The historical weight of that garment is considerable. Rodriguez and Bessette — then pre-Kennedy — had met in 1990 while working together at Calvin Klein, and it was her decision to commission him for both her wedding dress and the rehearsal dinner slip that brought the then relatively little-known designer into the global spotlight. More than three decades on, the same silhouette has found its way onto one of this generation's most closely watched style figures.
The champagne-coloured, bias-cut, crystal-embellished slip was confirmed to be 'one and the same' as that worn by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy to her wedding rehearsal dinner in 1996.
It is, as British Vogue noted, entirely in keeping with Bieber's well-documented love of nineties minimalism — from cigarette-cut straight-leg jeans to understated LBDs. But there is a meaningful difference between channelling a mood and wearing the actual archive. The dress has also gained fresh cultural relevance this year, having been recently featured in Ryan Murphy's series Love Story, which brought renewed attention to Bessette-Kennedy's singular aesthetic.
From London to Paris — With a New Hair Colour
Bieber's week did not slow down after Mayfair. By Tuesday, she was front row at the Saint Laurent spring 2027 presentation during Paris Fashion Week, seated alongside fellow brand ambassador Zoë Kravitz and French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos — a trio that WWD likened to a very chic set of Charlie's Angels, assembled by creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
What caught the eye as much as the Saint Laurent tailoring, however, was Bieber's hair. The Rhode founder had quietly debuted a dramatically deeper brunette — described variously as espresso and near-black under the camera flash — via an Instagram Stories mirror selfie the previous week, with little more than a white heart emoji as caption. The colour was the work of artist Matt Rez, whose client roster also includes Florence Pugh and Rachel Sennott.
For the fans who have been here for a while, this is noticeably the darkest shade of brown Bieber's sported in years.
The timing, as it turns out, is very much of the moment. Celebrity hair artist Cody Renegar had predicted an "espresso girl fall" back in August, forecasting a surge in deep chocolate browns and what he called "espresso melt" — a technique blending dark roots with subtle highlights. Bieber's transformation, alongside similar seasonal switches from others in the spotlight, suggests that prediction has landed squarely.
The Saint Laurent Moment
Bieber's Paris Fashion Week appearance also drew attention for her outfit: a sharply tailored, dramatically plunging black suit coat paired with matching trousers, narrow sunglasses and layered rings. The look — polished but with an unmistakable edge — generated swift reaction online, with fans and fashion observers alike noting the balance between severity and glamour that has become something of a Bieber signature.
Between the archive dress, the hair overhaul and the front-row moment, it has been a week that demonstrates exactly why Bieber continues to sit at the centre of the conversation — not just as a beauty entrepreneur or a famous face, but as someone who understands, instinctively, how fashion operates as both personal expression and cultural statement. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy would, one suspects, approve.
