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Designers have been clamoring to work with 21-year-old Loli Bahia since she made her runway debut in Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter 2021 show—and she just opened Vogue World: Paris. Here’s everything you need to know about the French face on the rise.
Who is Loli Bahia?
Loli Bahia was born in Lyon, France, to a Spanish father and a mother of Algerian descent. While studying music at the Lyon Conservatoire, she was scouted after winning the Egeri Tour modelling contest thanks to her “sulky” pout and rebellious attitude. She walked the runway for the first time in 2020, in Nicolas Ghesquière’s autumn/winter 2021 Louis Vuitton show. Her impact was such that the designer made her a face of a campaign.
Since then, countless major fashion brands have come calling. We’ve seen her on the catwalks of Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, Givenchy, Rabanne, Coperni, Courrèges and Max Mara, as well as Prada, Versace and Chanel. Bahia wore Chanel to open the Vogue World: Paris spectacular in Place Vendôme.
Loli Bahia kicked off the show embodying 1920s fashion and the sport of cycling. In this period, Gabrielle Chanel was designing free-spirited, sportswear-inflected creations, including knitwear and shorter, over-the-calf dresses. To pay tribute to this decade and to the French fashion house, the model wore a re-edition of a long dress from Chanel’s spring/summer 1924 collection, which appeared in the pages of Vogue magazine that year.
Loli Bahia’s trajectory looks set to extend beyond the world of fashion. In 2023 the French actor and filmmaker Maïwenn invited her to play the young Jeanne du Barry – the last mistress of King Louis XV of France – in her film about her life.
This article was originally published on Vogue France.
