Sartorial crisis! Seven stars wear the same shoes front row at Paris Fashion Week

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But who copied whom at Chloe’s Fall 2024 show in Paris Thursday – the first show for the fashion house’s new creative director Chemena Kamali – wasn’t exactly clear.

Harry Potter star Clemence Poesy, model Georgia May Jagger and actresses Thomasin McKenzie, Marisa Abela (set to play Amy Winehouse in April’s upcoming biopic Well-heeled: Thomasin McKenzie, left, Marisa Abela, Meghann Fahy and Anne Watanabe Back To Black) and Sienna Miller all sat front row wearing – now, prepare yourself for fashion sacrilege and take a deep breath – the same shoes.

Today’s top videos

And the copycat footwear game went further: actress Meghann Fahy (girlfriend of One Day heartthrob Leo Woodall) attended wearing the same pair of clogs as Japanese actress Anne Watanabe. ‘A fashion emergency! An earthshattering sartorial crisis!’ traditionalists may have yelled, covering their offended eyes at so many of the exact same classic-Chloestyle wooden-heeled wedges and studded clogs adorning the feet of the VIP front row.

Clemence Poesy, Suzy Bemba and Alice Isaaz. Pic: JM Haedrich/SIPA/Shutterstock

For it is usually fashion death to attend the same event wearing the same thing as someone else – a sin only amplified in the world of celebrity, where individuality can make or break a career.

Luxury fashion revolves around the projection of an air of exclusivity, which is quashed when someone else is seen to have access to the exact same outfit as you. Think it was bad when you turned up to that wedding last summer wearing the same Hobbs dress as the mother of the bride?

Georgia May Jagger and Jerry Hall. Pic: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Imagine having paid four figures for an item of clothing and this happening. ‘Irrité’ might be the word. And yet… trust Chloe, the stalwart brand of French bohemia, to make something that’s normally uncool so cool. The big fashion brands are known for dressing invited celebrities in the ‘right’ clothes, but up until now those hand-picked outfits have all been different.

This is one of the first times we’ve seen a label deliberately dress so many of its front row clothes horses in exactly the same shoes. The only person who opted out of the front row copycat ritual? Jerry Hall, who chose to twin with a model on the runway instead: She wore a pair of over-theknee tan boots straight off the catwalk. Le twinning? Now that’s got a ring to it. ne