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Topless Katy Perry Trying Way Too Hard at Paris Haute Couture Week

The singer turned heads in torso-baring Balenciaga—and the effect was very Maxxinista-brand Charli XCX.

Anyone who’s anyone is in attendance at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris at the moment. Except, of course, for the ultra-stratospherically famous people who are past the point of needing to stage photo-ops with their showmance ex-boyfriends to maintain relevancy. Looking at you, Kendall Jenner...

Among the A-listers making appearances ringside at Chanel, Dior, and company was Katy Perry, who attended Wednesday’s Balenciaga show in a revealing outfit that could only be described as Kim Kardashian-esque.

Wearing a quintessential fashion scowl, Perry was photographed at the event decked out in sunglasses, a calf-length black fur coat, ripped tights that culminated in high heels—and nothing else. The effect was giving Maxxinista Charli XCX.

The reviews are in, and they’re mixed. “It feels like her team is desperately trying to stick a serve to the wall this era...” TealSlut wrote in a viral tweet. “Like the whole creative direction is ‘feed the gays’ but they don’t have the recipe.” Brutal.

In the estimation of TMZ, by exposing most of her breast area and torso, Perry was stealing from current Kanye muse Bianca Censori’s playbook. Some commentators on X agree: “The biancafication of desperate irrelevant celebs needs to be studied,” one person wrote.

But it was actually Kardashian who made the look Perry is currently adopting essentially de rigueur in affiliation with the Spanish luxury brand, which is currently helmed by creative director Demna Gvasalia (known mononymously as Demna).

Kardashian has a long relationship with the fashion house, and with Demna: She’s starred in numerous Balenciaga campaigns, attended countless Balenciaga runway shows, and even walked in some of them. The reality star-turned-actress even went to the 2021 Met Gala with Demna, where she covered her face and body in an all-black, masklike Balenciaga look.

And that slick, sylphlike, monochromatic aesthetic that’s now so synonymous with Balenciaga? The brand can 100 percent thank Kardashian for much of its present ubiquity.

Perry’s hair for the Balenciaga event was trés Kim Kardashian as well: she wore her black tresses slicked back into a high, bunched, and impossibly long ponytail that dangled to her knees.

Unfortunately, the roadblock that Perry has butted up against time and time again in her career—that she doesn’t quite have the juice, personality-wise, to pull off something truly daring, whether in the realm of music or fashion—has once again stalled her out in this instance.

Her newest Balenciaga costume has the same problem as the red dress Perry wore earlier this week. On Tuesday, the pop star emerged from her ride and walked into a hotel dragging an insanely long train printed with new song lyrics behind her. As was also the case with the Balenciaga fit, Perry is simply trying way too hard.

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