Riley Keough Explains How Her Performance at Chanel’s Paris Fashion Week Show Came Together
Turns out, the actress’s surprise rendition of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” was prepped in mere days. Here, she details her getting-ready process and what it was like paying homage to an iconic Chanel moment.
Just days ago, Riley Keough was in Memphis when she got a call from her friends at Chanel: How might she feel about flying to Paris and performing at the house’s spring/summer 2025 show—oh, and doing it while dangling above the models on a makeshift swing? Keough’s response: “Why would I say no to that kind of thing?”
As one of Chanel’s brand ambassadors, Keough first jetted to Los Angeles to lay down a track of her “When Doves Cry” rendition, which would then play over the speakers at the Grand Palais during Tuesday’s show. Once in Europe, she only had 48 hours to rehearse. Microphone in hand, she surprised the VIPs gathered to survey Chanel’s latest collection as she strolled into an enormous birdcage built in the center of the show space. Inside, she was lifted high above the crowd, swinging back and forth as she sang the iconic Prince number.
The performance was an homage to a classic ’90s Chanel ad starring Vanessa Paradis, in which the French singer and model herself swung from a trapeze inside a birdcage. As the models strutted beneath her for the finale, Keough says, it was “an honor to be a part of that moment.”
Ahead, the actress, singer, and long-time Chanel enthusiast walks ELLE through the making of such a moment.
Keough says she was drawn to the event not only out of her loyalty to Chanel, but also thanks to the runway show’s setting this fall: For the first time since 2021, Chanel returned to the Grand Palais, which had been previously closed for renovations. “It was the first time back, and it just felt like such a beautiful place,” Keough says.
In terms of makeup, Keough says the house let her “do my own version” of what the models sported on the runway. She selected a bold winged eyeliner and bronzed blush to pair with her shimmering black jumpsuit and matching cape.
“I think the older I get, the more I appreciate it, actually,” Keough says of the artistry and production that goes into runway collections.
As the granddaughter of Elvis Presley and daughter of Lisa Marie Presley, Keough comes from a long line of music and fashion royalty. She says she’s been attending fashion weeks for “maybe like 20 years” now, and “I just fall in love with it more and more each year.”
For the performance, Chanel outfitted Keough in a black buttoned jumpsuit, “which fit me really perfectly already,” and paired it with a sheer cape that’d catch the breeze as the singer swayed over the guests.
Although Keough’s show took place on a swing rather than a trapeze, “so it was a little bit different” from Paradis’ advertisement, she nevertheless wanted to keep the references clear—so she and Chanel selected an all-black look to mimic Paradis’ own.
She says that there were “a couple versions” of the cape itself, which was adjusted throughout rehearsals to “figure out what would be a good length on the swing.”
Before her appearance as singer Daisy Jones in the Prime Video series Daisy Jones and the Six last year, Keough did not consider herself a singer in any professional capacity. Even now, she sees singing as a “fun” activity rather than a serious career prospect. She took the same approach to the Chanel performance: “It was something that was meant to be joyful and fun. I felt inspired by this sort of, like, French nonchalance.”
“I’m not, like, an incredibly good trained singer,” Keough continues, “but I think that if I get the opportunity [to sing], I’ll take it. It’s not a career thing at this stage of my life.”
One memorable full-circle scene from the show? As Keough sang above the crowd, she looked down and locked eyes with Paradis sitting in the audience. “I looked down and saw Vanessa, and it was such a special moment because she was kind of the only person who I made real eye contact with,” Keough says.
Asked if it was at all frightening to hang above the group of models, Keough replied, “Once I was up there, it was okay. Clipping myself on, I got a little nervous because I wanted to do it in time. Other than that, it was honestly just very fun.”
“I think that doing creative work is cathartic for artists,” Keough says. “It’s cathartic to make; it’s cathartic to watch it. Hopefully, anyway!”
Keough’s relationship with Chanel has endured for a decade, strengthened, the actress says, by the house’s commitment to “music and cinema.” She adds, “They support artists in so many ways, which is very inspiring to me.”
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