For those of us who have dreamt about attending Paris Fashion week, the idea of audience participation is something we have probably never considered. However, a popular French comedian and YouTuber has showed the world that it is indeed possible – as long as you’re okay with being escorted off the runway by Gigi Hadid.
On Tuesday, Marie S’infiltre (née Marie Benoliel) made headlines by cat-walk crashing Chanel’s Paris Fashion Week runway show. Footage from Chanel’s installment shows Benoliel storming up to the runway during the show’s finale and joining the parade of models. The models (who have likely been trained to keep a straight face even when something like this happens) don’t seem to have any sort of outward reaction to her runway invasion, but one video shows security guards quickly rushing to take care of the situation. Luckily, famous supermodel/runway security guard Gigi Hadid was already at the scene and exiled Benoliel from the stage.
Benoliel had planned the stunt in advance, adding it to her list of social events she has “infiltrated” as part of her act, following her crashing of the French lingerie brand “Etam”’s runway the week before. The comedian has gained notoriety for her commentary in social movements such as #MeToo, and claimed that her fashion show escapades are “a way to relax the atmosphere” of what she considered to be an industry that “has the tendency to take itself too seriously” (Independent).
It is unclear at this time whether or not Paris Fashion Week security will be adding Gigi Hadid as a permanent member of their team. For now, we can all assume that being forcefully escorted offstage by Gigi Hadid is probably just as scary as it seems.