SAINT International star Aurelie Giraud is having a major moment. 

The Martinican beauty’s runway look for Balenciaga’s collaboration with Adidas, that debuted earlier this year as part of the French luxury fashion house’s Resort 2023 collection, was the wardrobe choice for music superstar and billionaire entrepreneur Rihanna’s dinner date in California last week.

Photographed by paparazzi outside the Santa Monica-located Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi, where she is a frequent customer, Rihanna was dressed in the identical Balenciaga x Adidas blue-padded bathrobe jacket, paired with the over-the-knee knife boots that SAINT star Giraud strutted in as Look 59 for the 63-piece collection unveiled in March on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

“It always blows my mind to see a celebrity wearing what I wore for a runway show,” Giraud shared with Our Today during a phone call from Paris, where she’s called home for the better part of a year now, having relocated from Martinique with her five-year-old daughter, Lou. As a fan of both Rihanna’s personal style and her music catalogue, Giraud was humbled seeing the mega-celeb stepping out in the hot-ticket designer collab ensemble.

“I’ve been a Riri fan forever, and as a Caribbean woman herself, I am proud of all she has accomplished,“ the model explained.  

“It felt extra special knowing that, with her love of Balenciaga, she chose the same outfit, minus the leather bodysuit and mask, that I had rocked… . It’s great  seeing your fashion heroes finding inspiration from the runway with you.”

It’s been a winning streak of late for Giraud. In addition to walking the  much-buzzed-about Balenciaga resort collection in New York, and shooting the online retail commerce pieces, the SAINT star was also part of the fashion house’s couture collection in July that featured an A-list model cast of celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Campbell and Dua Lipa.

Life has come full circle for the Martinican’s ongoing relationship with the iconic Paris-based fashion house.

“Three years earlier, I was booked by Balenciaga, but they had cancelled my look, so I didn’t get to walk for the show. So, when they called me back for their Fall collection in March this year, it was definitely a dream come true for me,” she revealed to Our Today.

Part of the Balenciaga family for nearly a year now, she is delighted to be “part of their team, so I get to see the evolution of the collection from the beginning to the runway show, so I feel very privileged”.

Outside of Paris, Giraud has been crisscrossing Europe, recently working in Germany for Hugo Boss e-commerce platforms, and in London for designers David Koma’s and Margaret Howell’s seasonal collection reveals online. Naturally, she is gratified with the raft of opportunities she’s being given across several countries.

“Being able to work for major fashion houses and respected designers is every model’s ultimate wish, and I have been blessed to be able to live my dreams.”
 
Away from her international modelling career, she envisages future plans involving a meaningful connection to her home soil.