How a 19-Year-Old Debutante Gets Ready for Le Bal
In an Alexandre Vauthier Couture gown, naturally.
Photography:
Sarah Gruson
Think back to yourself at 19... If you’re anything like us, you were likely double-fisting pizza, lying on the floor of your dorm room watching re-runs of The Nanny. Not Tess Kemper, however. At 19, the Cornell student and L.A. native is jetting to Paris for personal couture gown fittings with Alexandre Vauthier for the storied Parisian debutante ball, Le Bal.
Le Bal happens once a year at Paris’ Peninsula Hotel and honors extraordinary young women from all over the world. It’s one night of ultimate fantasy, and major-league couture dressing. When we got the invite to hang with Kemper while she got ready for the event, there was no way we were turning it down.
Click through the gallery below to see what it’s like to be a real-life debutante, and how Kemper came to be a real-life princess.
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“[Alexandre Vauthier] is a really close family friend. When... Read More

“We made a whole plan for the fitting and I... Read More

“[Alexandre and I] actually became friends, which is cool.... Read More

“I got into [le Bal] through my family friend also... Read More

“There were only like a couple other girls from the... Read More

“I get really, really nervous [before a big event]. It's... Read More

“Getting ready for me is always a really fun process—it’s... Read More

“I've been really into makeup since I was in seventh... Read More

“I go to Cornell, I am studying Hotel Administration in... Read More

“I’m so into fashion, beauty, and art history. I love... Read More

“It's funny because some of my friends have said, 'You... Read More

“I definitely want to be doing something entrepreneurial. I want... Read More

“I wasn't friends with any of the other girls, but... Read More

“It is so cool to be in an event where... Read More
