Kim Kardashian Picked 1995 Paco Rabanne for Her Birthday. Not SKIMS.
For her 46th, the SKIMS mogul pulled two archival Paco Rabanne looks from 1995, styled by new collaborator Law Roach ... while her own NikeSKIMS outerwear dropped the same night.
Take Me There, Scotty ↓
Kim Kardashian turned 46 on October 22. She celebrated at Baldi in the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, wearing two archival Paco Rabanne looks from the fall 1995 haute couture collection. Not a single piece was SKIMS.
The juxtaposition wrote itself. Kardashian has built a reported multi-billion dollar fashion empire on the idea that luxury should be accessible, available at scale, sized for every body ... the night she picked up the phone for Law Roach and asked Olivier Rousteing to pull pieces from a 31-year-old Paris runway.
Two Looks, One 1995 Collection
The first look was number 21 from the Paco Rabanne fall 1995 haute couture show: a very short robe silhouette with a plunging V-neck, wide bell-shaped elbow-length sleeves and a front slit. Shimmering green mesh draped from the shoulders, gathered at a crystal-embellished waist, with multicolored stones tracing the neckline, sleeve edges and hem. A jeweled chain headpiece with oversized emerald stones crossed her forehead. Shoes: black patent leather Lidia mules by Paris Texas.
The second look followed the same silhouette as number 22 from the same show, this time in fuchsia mesh. A dense netted red-and-pink jewel headpiece replaced the chains, and a long beaded necklace with an ornate cross-shaped pendant completed it. Per Vogue's reporting on October 22, Kardashian worked with stylist Law Roach on both selections.
Law Roach, First Month on the Job
Roach, who spent years building Zendaya into one of fashion's most discussed red carpet presences, began working with Kardashian "last month," per the Vogue report. His history with Paco Rabanne is not accidental: in March 2023 he styled Megan Thee Stallion in a reconstructed gold spring 1997 Rabanne ensemble at a Hollywood stylists dinner. Archive Rabanne is clearly in his vocabulary.
Roach's route back into active client work has been gradual after a very public frustration statement two years ago. Kardashian represents a shift for both of them: for her, away from the streetwear-adjacent aesthetic she cultivated through the early 2020s and toward something more deliberately archival and European.
Rousteing's Pre-Show Move
Olivier Rousteing personally selected the pieces for Kardashian's birthday looks. He joined the Rabanne house in July 2026 after 16 years at Balmain, including 14 as creative director. His first Rabanne collection shows in March 2027.
Per Yahoo's coverage by Maggie Clancy, Rousteing told Vogue he had watched Paco Rabanne's Space Age designs on television as a child and wondered whether the dresses were "superheroes." His selection of 1995 archive pieces for Kardashian's party is exactly the kind of pre-show relationship-building a new creative director does: put your house's most recognizable archival work on someone who will photograph it globally, before you have shown a single new piece of your own.
The Night SKIMS Launched Outerwear and Kim Wore 1995 Paris
The timing is striking. October 22 was also the date NikeSKIMS introduced its first outerwear collection: a varsity-jacket drop in sherpa and nylon that sold out online within hours. The woman who drove that launch spent her birthday evening in a dress from the year before Google existed.
This is not a contradiction. It is the logic of fashion empires at scale. When you own the accessible lane, the aspirational signal travels upward, not down. Wearing archive Paco Rabanne to your birthday party does not compete with SKIMS. It explains why SKIMS exists: you sell the brand at scale, you wear the archive.
Rousteing's March 2027 Rabanne debut is the follow-up worth watching: whether the house he has just joined can translate the archive magic Kardashian put on display in Beverly Hills into something new people will pay for. That is the test for every new creative director who arrives carrying only someone else's history.
Ad Watch News is an independent commentary site with no affiliation with Kim Kardashian, Paco Rabanne, SKIMS, NikeSKIMS, or any party mentioned in this story. This piece draws on published sources listed below.
Sources & further reading
- Vogue: Kim Kardashian Birthday Vintage Paco Rabanne, Olivier Rousteing (Oct 22, 2026)
- Yahoo (Maggie Clancy): Kim Kardashian 46th Birthday Looks From Paco Rabanne 1995 Couture Runway (Oct 23, 2026)
- Wikimedia Commons: Kim Kardashian 2018, Ashley Graham / CC BY 3.0
- Wikimedia Commons: Law Roach, Philip Romano / CC BY-SA 4.0
