Mr Viral
Going out for a smoke in two degrees below zero while dressed in couture? “Don’t be afraid for the dresses. That’s why we’re wearing bathrobes” says Gabrielle Janssens de Balkany, one of the 19 young women from international royalty and high society appearing in this year’s edition of Le Bal, the charity-focused debutante ball organized since 1994 by Ophélie Renouard.
The evening before the event, Renouard moves between the different rooms unperturbed and gives instructions without opening her mouth, as the participants posted TikToks and stubbed out slim cigarettes on the terrace of the Shangri-La Hotel. Her burgundy tweed jacket and her multi-strand pearl necklaces—all Chanel, bien sûr—give her an extra sense of authority.
Isabelle de Orleans, in Antonio Grimaldi, and her chevalier, Prince Constantin d’Orléans.
Jonathan Becker
Proof that Rick Owens works the sequin: Eliza Lindroth’s dress. Here, with her chevalier, Antonius Meijer.
Jonathan Becker
To debut at Le Bal you have to meet a number of requirements. You get access only by Renouard’s personal invitation, it’s impossible to buy a ticket. The deal is often closed over informal lunches with the girls’ mothers and grandmothers, who usually welcome the idea with enthusiasm.
“This is hilarious,” one of the debutantes confides in me. “But we’re also doing it for a good cause.” The money raised goes to charity; this year, to the Association for Cardiology Research from Fetus to Adult at Necker Hospital in Paris, and to its counterpart in New York, Maria Fareri Hospital. Among the sponsors were Laurent Perrier champagne, the Jacques Dessange hairdressing salon and the designer Carolina Herrera.
The participants begin the dance with their escorts and then are joined by their parents. In the photo, Carolina Lansing and her chevalier, her brother Magnus.
Jonathan Becker
Renouard studied psychology at the Sorbonne, a discipline that is particularly useful to her when it comes to exercising what she calls the “power of Le Bal” enlisting sponsors and selecting the twenty or so debutantes who, each year, present themselves in society. The 18th century tradition is more fashionable than ever among the well-to-do European families, as well as some in the US.
If last year Apple Martin, the daughter of actor Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, filled the Hollywood quota, this year it was Bronwyn Vance, daughter of actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. Vance, who studies at Harvard, shone in Paris in haute couture by Stéphane Rolland, a white dress with gold trimming.
Bronwyn Vance, daughter of actors Angela Basset and Courtney B. Vance, in haute couture by Stéphane Rolland. Her chevalier was her brother Slater.
Jonathan Becker
Each debutante wore jewelry by V Muse, a high-end jewelry brand founded by a pair of longtime collectors of heritage pieces—that is, except for Gabrielle Janssens de Balkany. The granddaughter of Maria Gabriella of Savoy was allowed an exception, and wore a pair of diamond earrings that belonged to French princess Maria Theresa of Savoy, as well as a tiara and necklace once worn by her grandmother, the daughter of the last kings of Italy. “She was very excited for me to wear it, and they let me,” she said.
Her friend, debutante Almudena Dally d’Orléans, was also influenced by her grandmother, Beatriz d’Orleans. “I tried on several dresses, and I chose this one because she told me: ‘It’s the most spectacular,'” says the daughter of Princess Adelaide d’Orléans about her look from the Dior archives.
Gabrielle Janssens de Balkany with tiara and necklace from her grandmother, Gabriella of Savoy, and earrings that belonged to Maria Theresa of Savoy on loan from V Muse.
Jonathan Becker
Carolina Lansing, granddaughter of Carolina Herrera, in a dress by Wes Gordon, creative director of the brand.
Jonathan Becker
“That smile reminds me of your grandmother,” photographer Jonathan Becker told Carolina Lansing, another of the illustrious granddaughters at this edition of Le Bal. Hers is the designer and high society legend Carolina Herrera, who was unable to accompany her to Paris. “But I am surrounded by the rest of my family,” says Lansing, who wore a strapless dress with polka dots and a big bow on the skirt by Wes Gordon, current creative director of the Carolina Herrera brand.
For her, the jewelers chose a choker with a diamond flower. “My grandfather Reinaldo used to give jewelry like this to my grandmother, so for me this is a very nice way to keep him in mind,” she said as Princess Eulalia of Orléans Bourbon passed in a Tony Ward dress—”as soon as I saw it, I knew that was it”—and a tiara with the Bourbon fleur de Lis. “My father has sent photos to the king. He has told him that I look very pretty, that the dress is beautiful,” the goddaughter of Don Juan Carlos said. The princess studies finance at St. Andrews and is fluent in five languages, soon to be six: “I’m learning Russian,” she says.
Eulalia of Orleans, goddaughter of King Juan Carlos, was one of this year’s debutantes.
Jonathan Becker
Despite its nineteenth-century origins, Le Bal follows the trend of the times. On D-Day, participants representing 12 nationalities parade before their families accompanied by their escorts, referred to here as chevaliers. Historian and TV presenter Stéphane Bern, who was fresh from an interview with King Juan Carlos, hosted the event with an apt mix of humor, wit, and facts.
“We are in the only Parisian-style decorated palace—think gilded moldings, lots of mirrors and wooden floors—that remains from Roland Bonaparte,” she noted at one point, before quipping “oh, here comes the granddaughter of the King of France, and here comes the granddaughter of the king of Las Vegas, Kirk Kerkorian.” Meanwhile, the attendees applaud and cheer the debutantes, who demonstrate their skill in wearing couture gowns and jewelry.
That said, the atmosphere is rather more relaxed than one might expect. “There’s no competition, it’s all good vibes,” says the mother of a chevalier while serving a delicate vanilla and pear flan. Her son and his debutante date had met the previous evening, which didn’t stop them from improvising a few pirouettes in front of a devoted audience.
Le Bal started off classic, but during the evening there were also songs by Dua Lipa or the Spice Girls. In the center, Ruby Kemper, granddaughter of Kirk Kerkorian.
Jonathan Becker
Almudena Dailly d’Orléans, granddaughter of Princess Beatrice d’Orléans, dances dressed in Dior with her chevalier, her brother Diego.
Jonathan Becker
After months of preparation and two frenetic days in which the 19 debutantes have spent several hours perfectly dressed and made up, posing for pictures and rehearsing the dance steps, the most awaited moment arrives just after dessert. It was time for the waltz, which began with the debutantes and their chevaliers—a traditional Blue Danube—then with their parents—the theme to La La Land—and finally disco music —Likke Li, Dua Lipa, or the Spice Girls. (And after that, they’d take off their tiaras and tulles before running to a trendy club for the after party.)
After the debutantes, the parents, and the hostess enjoyed an ovation, we were able to verify a universal truth. Whether it is a descendant of Winston Churchill, a Windsor, or a von un zu Franckestein, everyone is looking for the same thing: a toast, some dancing, and some TikToks.
Carolina Lansing poses among the chevaliers.
Jonathan Becker
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