Last month, Celine Dion made her glorious return to the stage in Paris, following a years-long private battle with stiff-person syndrome (SPS). And what a return it was. The iconic French Canadian singer has been hitting the stage at the Plenitude Arena exiting her hotel before each performance wearing a different high-fashion look, and then hitting the stage in similarly buzzy outfits, including custom Dior and Givenchy, among others.
On Wednesday night, however, Dion closed out her final week of shows (until May 2027, when she picks the tour back up) on an even more fabulous fashion note. The star opened her concert tonight wearing a custom Chanel dress that was inspired by the shimmering gown she wore back at the 1997 Oscars.
Back at the ’97 awards show, Dion made history when she became the first artist to perform twice during the same Oscars ceremony. (She sang her own hit “Because You Loved Me,” and a cover of Barbara Streisand’s “I Finally Found Someone.”) The star did so in a sparkling, silver plunging Chanel gown, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, the brand’s designer at the time, and a comet-style necklace.
Almost three decades later, Dion’s shimmering frock still feels glamorous and timeless, so it made perfect sense for the star to revive it in a new way at her tour. To update the original design, from the spring/summer 1997 haute-couture collection, current Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy added his own touches to the silhouette, reworking it with a sweetheart neckline and a more structured shape.
The house used an embroidered muslin, which encased a padded and corseted toile bustier. The neckline was detailed in raffia, and the whole piece was finished with glass crystal rhinestones, seed beads, and glass beads. The design was handcrafted at the 31 Rue Cambon ateliers in Paris. Overall, 6,000 jewels and 5,000 beads were used on the entire look, and it required over 1,380 hours of work.
To top it off, a one-off high jewellery necklace was also re-created, a nod to the original Chanel necklace that Dion wore back on the 1997 Oscars red carpet. Referencing the starry design of the dress, Dion wore a new comète necklace made of platinum, 18-carat white gold, and 1,080 diamonds that totalled more than 67 carats. According to Chanel, the piece is an emblematic 1932 design from Gabrielle Chanel’s only high jewellery collection, titled Bijoux de Diamants.
It’s all such a total fashion flex. Referencing your own past red-carpet look to re-create? Now, that’s true icon status!