Hymne a l’amour and elegance. For her grand return after a four-year absence, singer Céline Dion made a surprise appearance against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower for the finale of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024. And she did it in style: with a Dior look by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The Quebec star wore a gown with long sleeves and a fringed tail, entirely covered with pearls and crystals, which along with her vibrant voice and sparkling under the lights, made her look even brighter. The total look was a striking shimmering result, coupled with the matching earrings that echoed the crystals on the dress. Hair pulled pulled back into a chignon, it showed Céline’s face visibly moved during her majestic performance.
A custom-made, immaculate gown (whose design remained secret, as befitting all those related to major events) chosen by the Queen of Power Ballads herself, as explained on the Instagram account by the Avenue Montaigne fashion house.
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The gown was made out of white silk georgette. Embroidered using a gradation of sequins and embellished with more than five hundred meters of fringe with thousands of silver-colored pearls, which, depending on the movement of Dion’s body, sparkled under the lights and seemed to come alive. In all, it took more than a thousand hours of work to create this masterpiece.
A combination of pure art shimmering to the notes of a song very dear to Céline, ‘Hymne à l’amour’, the hymn to love by French singer Édith Piaf, written in memory of the great love of her life, French boxer Marcel Cerdan, who died in 1949 in a plane crash. The song imagines a love that survives the end of the world, and it is the kind of anthem, high, powerful, needing a long breath, to which Dion is accustomed. Because the crippling stiff-person syndrome that forced her offstage, on the Eiffel Tower failed to scratch Céline’s powerful voice.
