Last night in Paris, AMI's Alexandre Mattiussi delivered one of men's fashion week's greatest coos, staging his catwalk outside one of the city's most enduring landmarks: the Sacré-Cœur. Sitting on his mega-watt front row was Naomi Campbell, Catherine Deneuve, Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey, Tom Daley, Euphoria's Angus Cloud and Carla Bruni, who cheered from her cane bistro chair as Audrey Tautou, screen icon, emerged onto the catwalk. (This wasn't her first time at the famous basilica, of course. In one of her most iconic films, Amélie, Tautou works at a cafe in Montmartre - and calls Nino, her would-be lover, from a phone box in the grounds of the Sacré-Cœur.)
But she wasn't the only famous face. Mattiussi's show was a tour-de-force of superstar models, then and now. After Tautou emerged Precious Lee, Paloma Elsesser, Karen Elson, Liya Kebede, Kristen McMenamy, Mariacarla Boscono and Cara Delevingne, whose appearance marked only her second time on the catwalk in 2022 (the first was for Fendi Haute Couture). And boy did she remind the audience what we've been missing, smiling and sashaying past the crowd wearing a cheekily unbuttoned shirt.
Delevingne's look was all about the classics - a pair of black jeans, a vinyl jacket - and channeled that certain brand of effortless cool that is always associated with the French. Liya Kebede's grass green waistcoat and wide-leg trousers combo was another highlight, as were the denim hotpants styled on Elsesser (note: the highest of thigh-high cut-offs can be instantly smartened with a blazer that hits below their hemline and a means-business shoulder bag).
Speaking of his love for the show's setting, Montmartre, Mattiussi said: 'There is a retro atmosphere like nowhere else in the capital: it is vivacious and delightfully cheeky, it perfectly echoes the values of AMI, it celebrates love and friendship, inclusion and diversity.'
Looking at the tennis skirts, neck scarves, leather blazers, fisherman's sandals and baseball caps - all bathed in the after-glow of sun that you get at 8.30pm - it made us want to book a trip to Paris, immediately if not sooner. Or at the very least rewatch Amélie.