Every year on Thanksgiving weekend, 20 or so of the world's most glamorous young women converge on Paris for le Bal des Débutantes , the most high-profile debutante ball in the world. While some balls allow parents to sign up their daughters to participate, debs must be invited to be presented at le Bal.
Le Bal was started in 1994 by French publicist Ophélie Renouard as a modern take on the traditional debutante ball. Renouard explains that the girls who are invited to be presented"are good students, concerned with charity and, of course, they love fashion!" Fashion plays a prominent role at le Bal, with each deb dressed in a couture gown made just for her . And, in fact, Renouard initially conceived of le Bal as a way to get media attention for these fashion houses.
2018 also saw the highest-ever number of Indian debs at le Bal, with three young women making their debuts and following in the footsteps of fellow countrymen and women like the Maharajah of Jaipur, who was a cavalier last year, and Isha Ambani, who attended back in 2012.In the trio was Shloka Birla, the daughter of Yash Birla, one of India's most successful industrialists/philanthropists. The Mumbai native wore a backless, heavily embroidered gown by Indian couturier Manish Malhotra.
There was also Princess Ananya Raje Scindia, 16, whose father is the Maharajah of Gwalior and a member of parliament for the Congress party. She wore a dress by the Indo-French brand Lecoanet-Hemant."It was inspired by the microscopic images of butterfly wings," she explains."I was a part of the design process from day one. It took a whole year to create.
It's comments like these that mean Renouard has done her job well."We do our very best to create this weekend of magic in their lives," Renouard says."Some of them still remember it many years later and ask for their own daughters to be invited."