Céline Dion Surprises L'Oréal Paris Fashion Week Runway Finale

Paris Fashion Week got its biggest crowd-pleaser of the season on Monday night — and it came from a runway, not a catwalk house. Le Défilé L'Oréal Paris, the beauty giant's annual celebrity runway show, took over Place Joffre on September 28 with the illuminated Eiffel Tower as its backdrop, and a surprise finale performance by Céline Dion turned the event into a concert. Kendall Jenner opened the show, walking in a sheer black dress with a high neckline and a dramatic thigh-high slit, while stars from fashion, film, music and sports filled out one of the most star-studded runways of Paris Fashion Week this season.

A Runway Built on Generations, Not Just Models

The ninth edition of the show leaned into its "Express Your Worth" theme, which L'Oréal Paris says celebrates women across generations and backgrounds with a focus on empowerment and inclusion, according to a company statement carried by PR Newswire. The casting delivered on that promise: Heidi Klum and Jane Fonda walked alongside Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Anitta, Simone Ashley, Andie MacDowell, Eva Longoria, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Mika Abdalla, Jacob Rott, Aja Naomi King and Lindsey Vonn. Just Jared reported the full lineup from the Monday show, noting the mix of Hollywood veterans and Gen Z favorites that has become the event's signature.

The night belonged in part to a newcomer. Kristen Bell made her debut on the brand's runway just weeks after being named a L'Oréal global ambassador in August, People reported. The debut underscores how the annual spectacle has evolved: where legacy fashion houses still trade on exclusivity, this show trades on familiarity — recognizable faces of every age walking a public runway under the Paris sky. The format has drawn huge social audiences in past editions precisely because it reads less like a traditional fashion presentation and more like a celebration fans can actually watch.

The Céline Moment That Stole the Night

Then came the surprise. Dion appeared at the end of the show to perform "I'm Alive," with the celebrity walkers joining her on the runway for the finale. The singer is currently in Paris for a concert residency that began earlier this month, and her appearance turned the closing minutes of the runway into a full-blown concert moment. Clips of the finale circulated widely overnight, with fans calling it the highlight of Paris Fashion Week so far.

The performance lands at a meaningful moment for the star, whose live comeback has been one of pop culture's most closely followed stories. Sharing a runway finale — rather than a conventional stage — with actors, athletes and models only amplified the spectacle. For L'Oréal, the surprise was the payoff on its inclusion pitch: a lineup spanning eight decades of fame, closed by one of the most beloved voices in music, in front of the most recognizable landmark in fashion's capital.

From Milan to Paris: Fashion Week's Power Couple Run

The Paris appearance capped a whirlwind week for Jenner, whose relationship with actor Jacob Elordi has become Paris Fashion Week's unofficial subplot. The two have been romantically linked since March 2026, when they were first spotted together after the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Since then they have been seen at Coachella in April, on trips to Hawaii, Montecito and Japan, and in the Australian coastal town of Byron Bay in June, just ahead of his 29th birthday.

Days before the Paris show, Elordi sat front row in Milan as Jenner closed the Bottega Veneta runway — then flew on to Paris for the show, where the pair were photographed holding hands and laughing on a Monday night date, according to Just Jared. It is a timeline that reads like a fashion calendar: two coasts, two fashion weeks, one very public September.

Why does any of this matter beyond the photos? Because the celebrity-runway format is becoming one of fashion's most effective marketing machines — and one of its most debated. When a beauty brand puts Simone Ashley and Jane Fonda on the same catwalk, it is selling more than lipstick; it is selling the idea that beauty has no age or single face. Critics of the format counter that it is marketing first and fashion second, a star-powered ad with better lighting. Both things can be true — and with viewership numbers climbing each year, the format is not going anywhere.

For Gen Z fans, the takeaway is simpler: the most-watched runway of Paris Fashion Week starred people they actually follow. See more celebrity coverage on the Culture topic page, and catch the season's other fashion-world frenzy in Supreme Nike Fall 2026 Drop Sold Out in Under a Minute.

Reporting for this story drew on Just Jared's coverage of the L'Oréal show and MensXP's recap of the runway looks.