TATLER | PARISIAN IT GIRL ZITA D’HAUTEVILLE IN DIANA D’ORVILLE
Parisian it-girl Zita d’Hauteville spotted wearing our Princesse Palatine palazzo in Tatler’s ‘Move aside Emily : Meet the real Parisian it-girls’ article.
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Emily in Paris, the latest show from Darren Star – the director behind cult series, Sex and the City – has certainly proved divisive. Strangely addictive, it follows a twenty-something American social media whizz, Emily, (played by Lily Collins), who is tasked with revamping the online presence of a behind-the-times marketing agency in Paris. We watch as Emily totters around the French capital in her Louboutins, enjoying a string of romantic rendez-vous, attending glitzy parties overlooking the Eiffel Tower and experiencing extreme froideur from her French colleagues. Suffice to say, it’s received a mix of reviews. But whether you were swept away, like Emily, by the picturesque Parisian streets, or found yourself not quite convinced by the show’s many French clichés – allow Tatler to introduce you to the real Paris It girls, who all radiate a certain je ne sais quoi.
ZITA D’HAUTEVILLE
The eldest daughter of Count and Countess d’Hauteville (one of Paris’ oldest families) Zita d’Hauteville became the talk of the town after attending Les Bal des Debutantes in 2013 wearing a sumptuous navy Vivienne Westwood Haute Couture gown. A self-confessed ‘geek’, you will find the 24-year-old Account Strategist racing around Google’s head office in Dublin. When Zita is not advising clients for the tech giant, she retreats to her family’s Parisian pad, where the It girl will pick up breakfast at Carette (nestled in the fashionable 16th Arrondissement) and attend chic parties at one of France’s many glamorous châteaux.
ALEXANDRA VAN HOUTTE
Hailed as ‘the Google of fashion’, TAGWALK has undoubtedly revolutionised the industry, providing a directory for fashion editors as it organises collections into categories, trends and street style. 30-year-old former ELLE fashion assistant and now tech entrepreneur Alexandra Van Houtte is behind the idea, after she struggled to find a way to organise catwalk collections for the fashion department at the magazine. Now, TAGWALK has almost 46,000 users, while Vanity Fair has named Alexandra one of 50 most influential French people in the world. Spot her on the front row of Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior during fashion week, where everyone is budging up to sit next to the tech tycoon.
OLYMPIA TAITTINGER
Scion of the famous Champagne-making family, 19-year-old Olympia Taittinger is one of Paris’ most treasured It girls. She made her ‘debut’ into society at Les Bal des Debutanties in 2016 alongside Princess Emilia von Auersperg-Breunner, HRH Princess Zita de Bourbon Parme and Countess Angélique de Limburg Stirum, wearing Chanel Haute Couture after the late designer Karl Lagerfeld personally chose to dress her. Now Taittinger lives between Paris and London, where she is currently reading Politics and International Relations at UCL while volunteering at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where she supported the NHS during the height of the pandemic. Cheers to that.
HELOISE AGOSTINELLI
The 22-year-old daughter of financier Robert Agostinelli and Dior’s PR Director, Mathilde Favier, grew up at the heart of France’s fashion industry. Alongside her mother’s esteemed career in PR, Heloise’s aunt is the Creative Director of jewellery for Dior, while her great-uncle Gilles Dufour designed Haute Couture for both Chanel and Balmain – there was certainly no shortage of fashionable advice growing up in Paris. Although Heloise’s ultra-fashionable aesthetic comes naturally, it is skincare and wellness where the model thrives. Poster girl for cult beauty brand, Dr Barbara Sturm, and having studied Naturopathic Medicine, Agostinelli knows a thing or two about glowing from within (she swears by coconut oil and chlorophyll water). Find Heloise training at KX gym in London or travelling across the pond to visit her home in Paris, where during fashion week Heloise sits on the front row at Dior and Celine.
MARIA DE LA ORDEN
Meandering down Avenue Montaigne, you may spot French fashion designer and socialite Maria de la Orden dressed in a tartan jumpsuit, carrying a vintage Hermès bag and balancing a chocolate brown fedora on her head. Marie embodies Parisian elegance – something that has earned her both 65,000 followers on Instagram and dedicated fans of her two fashion brands, La Veste and Maria de la Orden Studio (including Alexandra Tolstoy, Sabine Getty and Leah de Wavrin). When Maria isn’t designing, she escapes the bustling city for shooting weekends at her whimsical country house, hosts medieval-themed dinner parties or jets off to St Tropez, where she will no doubt arrive just in time for evening drinks at Le Senequier.