With Nicole Kidman attending the funeral of her mother in her native Australia Tuesday, the actor’s apparent Paris Fashion Week contretemps with Salma Hayek may be the last thing on her mind.
But viral clips, showing the two A-list actors caught in a tense moment at the Balenciaga show last week, continue to bounce around the internet. The clips, which first emerged Sunday, also continue to foment speculation about what was really going on between them.
Supposedly, Kidman and Hayek are friends, and insiders have insisted to People that “nothing happened” between the two women, and “people are looking at clips and making a story out of nothing.”
US-Mexican actress Salma Hayek attends the 2024 Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women dinner at The Pool in New York City on September 9, 2024. (Photo by Andrea RENAULT / AFP) (Photo by ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images)
Then again, people saw what they saw. Hayek, who is married to Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of Balenciaga’s parent company, was initially photographed on the red carpet with Kidman, an ambassador for the brand. The two women were clearly surrounded by photographers jostling for shots of the two, and Hayek put her arm across Kidman’s body to seemingly steer her to face the photographers.
That’s when Kidman abruptly batted Hayek’s hand away. Kidman then turned to hug singer Katy Perry, exchanged a few words with Hayek, then walked out of the frame as Hayek and Perry continued to have their photos taken, smiling awkwardly.
The body language experts have jumped into the discussion, with one of the more prominent of these experts, author Judi James, telling the Daily Mail that the exchange probably boiled down to a perceived breach of red carpet etiquette on Hayek’s part.
“Paris Fashion Week shows are a hot-mess combo of rarefied, super-A-list air and the sweaty lower levels of a rugby scrum,” James told the Daily Mail. “Keeping your dignity and maintaining impeccable elegance while being jostled and made to wait for what can often be hours are necessary skills, and Nicole Kidman offers what looks like a masterclass here in protecting A-list parameters and status signals against all odds.”
James explained that there are etiquette rules for Fashion Week red carpets that are “possibly as complex as the Da Vinci Code.”
“Nicole seems to be posing happily with her friend Salma, placing a polite arm round her shoulders while keeping their torsos apart,” James said. “The problem might possibly first arise when Nicole then turns (with her hair covering her face from the cameras) to have a more personal-looking friendly chat to Salma, who is still working the pose.”
‘In another clip we can see Salma apparently trying to steer Nicole around and away from her using an arm and a hand that could, although possibly not touching, be seen or felt as directive and a little superior,” James continued.
“Nicole appears to push the hand away, suggesting the … touch breached some kind of silent etiquette, as in a possible ‘I’ll choose when I go or where I move to,’” James added.
“She turns back to kiss Katy, leaving Salma looking nonplussed,” James said. “There does appear to be some pointing that could look like a small flashpoint before Nicole walks off in the other direction.”
James concluded: “Anyone who has seen ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ though, should know that high-fashion-event body language maybe shouldn’t be judged at normal earthling levels.”
The Daily Mail reported that many on social media seemed to agree with James, suggesting that Hayek was acting in her role as the boss’ wife when she tried to guide Kidman to face the photographers. Hayek’s husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, is the CEO of Kering, the luxury goods company that owns Balenciaga, as well as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen.
“Nicole is an employee of Salma’s husband, so yes, Salma gets to boss her around,” one person wrote on X, the Daily Mail reported. “Besides, Nicole is there working for Salma’s husband.”
Then again, others said the Academy Award-winning Kidman didn’t appear to take too kindly to being told what to do, even by Hayek, the Daily Mail also reported. Incidentally, the two women both competed for best actress Oscars in 2003 — Kidman for playing Virginia Woolf in the “The Hours,” and Hayek, for playing artist Frida Kahlo in “Frida.” Kidman won the trophy.
About the tense moment between the two women, fashion writer Louis Pisano wondered if Kidman had jeopardized her job with Balenciaga. He wrote on X: “Oh that ‘don’t touch me’ from Nicole to Salma at a brand show owned by her husband, that Balenciaga contract is in danger I fear.’
Someone on Reddit also said, “I get that Salma was probably trying to direct her to pose for the cameras, but some people don’t like to be touched regardless of the situation, and you just gotta respect that.”