French brand celebrates female empowerment with glamorous runway show

French cosmetics maker L'Oreal hosted its annual runway show on Saturday featuring an all-star cast of movie stars, singers and supermodels who embodied self-empowerment on the sidelines of Paris fashion Week.

Celebrities including Britain's Naomi Campbell looked on from the audience of the show, held in the inner courtyard of the neoclassical Monnaie de Paris building.

Actress Amber Heard and pop star Camilla Cabello strutted the circular catwalk in their first-ever appearances at the show, alongside long-time brand ambassador Eva Longoria, actress Andie McDowell, model Doutzen Kroes, and former Spice Girl Geri Horner.

A barefoot and smiling Helen Mirren closed the show in a floral dress, running joyfully on stage.

L'Oreal, an official sponsor of fashion week, collaborated with fashion houses such as Balmain, Elie Saab, Karl Lagerfeld and Giambattista Valli to dress its high-profile models.

The world's biggest beauty manufacturer, behind labels such as Maybelline and Armani, aimed to promote female empowerment and diversity in the third edition of the show.

"It is great to work with a brand that understands women, self-worth is very important, it is more than a lipstick or a hair colour," Longoria told Reuters Television.

"We have a rainbow of diversity on the catwalk today with Korea, Brazil, India and me from Mexico. Definition of beauty is different all over the world and to have one stage celebrating all of that difference is really remarkable."

Reuters