Paris Hilton Brings Back Vivienne Westwood’s Most Famous Platforms at Paris Fashion Week
Paris Hilton brought a slice of fashion history to Paris Fashion Week on Saturday, stepping out in a pair of Vivienne Westwood platforms modeled after the house’s famed 1993 Super-Elevated designs.
The shoes, built on a thick block platform with a sharply arched sole, featured the corseted lacing and sculptural height that once made Westwood’s Gillies a runway legend. Hilton’s version combined suede and leather in cream and ice-gray tones, grounding her voluminous green gown in a distinctly archival silhouette. The combination of wrapped platform, cutout panels and crisscross ties recalled the extreme elevation that became one of Westwood’s defining provocations.
Her green-and-lavender gown, trimmed in feathers and built on a panniered skirt, carried the same sense of drama. White gloves, cat-eye frames and a diamond collar tied it back to Westwood’s signature mix of couture polish and punk edge.
Hilton, who has long gravitated toward maximalist statements, has revisited Westwood’s aesthetic throughout her career — from corseted silhouettes at red-carpet appearances to platform-heavy performance looks. Her return to the brand in Paris follows a summer defined by similarly bold footwear moments, including rhinestone Stuart Weitzman thigh-highs at WeHo Pride and Gianvito Rossi’s fitted suede boots at Tribeca.
The reference point was unmistakable. In 1993, Naomi Campbell’s memorable fall in Westwood’s runway show turned the Super-Elevated Gillies into a symbol of fashion fearlessness. Campbell later joked that the nine-inch heels “tested her balance and her pride,” while Westwood famously called the stumble “beautiful — like a gazelle.” The moment helped cement the British designer’s reputation for defying convention and redefining femininity through risk.
For Hilton, whose public persona has always blended self-parody and glamour, the nod feels intentional — a bridge between two eras of women who mastered spectacle on their own terms. Where Campbell’s moment captured the danger of fashion, Hilton’s reimagining celebrates its endurance — the idea that style history can be playful, self-aware and towering in every sense.
