RETROSPECTIVE

32 Breathtaking Photos of Vanessa Paradis Through the Years

by W Staff
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

Vanessa Paradis
Photo by Patrick Camboulive via Getty Images

There’s been an ageless quality to Vanessa Paradis’s beauty for decades now, to the point that it’s easy to forget the singer-slash-actor first became a star back when she was just 14, when her hit single “Joe le Taxi,” off her debut album M & J, flew to the top of the charts in her native France. Paradis would go on to become a film star, fashion mainstay, Chanel fixture, and mom of another film star. She sailed through all of it with her indelible je ne sais quoi that she’s passed on to her lookalike daughter, Lily-Rose Depp. Take a look back—and marvel at the mother-daughter resemblance—here.

1984

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis was on the brink of stardom when she posed in a houndstooth blazer in Paris, around the time of her breakout single “Joe le Taxi.”

1987

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis started out her singing career with ‘80s style bangs, though always steered clear of the era’s out-there beauty looks.

1987

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis went with an edgy leather motorcycle jacket for a night out at Les Bains Douches in Paris.

1987

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis had full-on vacation energy when posing at the beach in Martinique, France

1998

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis offered a peek at her checkered bra when performing on the TV show Avis de Recherche.

1989

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis channeled the dancing woman emoji at the 1989 César Film Awards.

1989

GETTY

Paradis made quite the departure from her style to walk the runway for Jean-Charles de Castelbajac during Paris Fashion Week.

1990

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis accepted the prestigious César Award for Most Promising Actress in a bodycon dress.

1990

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis kept it casual in a white tee at a concert in Paris.

1990

Photo via Getty Images

A fresh-faced Paradis joined Serge Gainsbourg at the 5th annual Victoires de la musique awards ceremony.

1991

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis’s relationship with Chanel goes way back, though she’s certainly changed up her front-row style in the years since the spring 1992 season.

1993

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis let her hair down on a visit to New York City.

1993

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis went with a brown color palette and the teeniest of hemlines for a portrait taken when she was in her early twenties.

1994

Photo via Getty Images

No one had better hair at the spring 1995 Jean Paul Gaultier show than Paradis and Lenny Kravitz.

1997

Photo by Patrick Camboulive via Getty Images

Paradis went blonde for her role in Patrice Leconte’s 1997 film Une chance sur deux.

1997

Photo via Getty Images

Her gap teeth were on full display when she paused for a photo with Leconte on set.

1997

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis joined Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in sporting a classic tuxedo and bowtie while promoting the René Manzor’s 1997 film Un Amour de sorcière.

1998

Photo via Getty Images

She returned to a darker hue by the time the film premiered the following year.

1999

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis had fully established her look by the late ‘90s, as seen here a year she married Johnny Depp.

1999

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis experimented with a choppy pin-straight look at the Los Angeles premiere of Sleepy Hollow.

Photo via Getty Images

She was back to curls later that year, when she joined her then-husband on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2007

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis was all smiles when she joined Karl Lagerfeld at the fall 2007 Chanel couture show during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

2009

GETTY

Paradis made a statement in peachy pink fur at a dinner to raise AIDS awareness at the Pavillon Armenonville in Paris.

2010

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis paired her red hair with a bold red lip for her appearance at the fall 2011 Couture show during Paris Fashion Week.

2014

Photo via Getty Images

A curly-haired Paradis made a departure from her usual resemblance to her daughter when accepting the Artiste Interprete Feminine award at the 2014 Les Victoires de la musique ceremony in Paris.

2014

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis swept her hair up into a dramatic updo at the after-party of a Fading Gigolo screening in New York City.

2015

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis went with a smoky eye for an appearance at the 26th Cabourg Romantic Film Festival in Cabourg, France.

2016

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis got playful with her poses at the 23rd annual amfAR gala in Cap d’Antibes, France.

2016

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis made a return to classic menswear at the Cannes Film Festival that same month.

2018

Photo by Pierre Suu via Getty Images

Depp had grown to the same height as Paradis by the time the pair attended the fall 2018 couture show during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

2019

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis and Depp again twinned at a Chanel show, this time during the 2020 cruise season at the Grand Palais in Paris.

2020

Photo via Getty Images

Paradis went with two classics—a bold red lip and head-to-toe black—at the closing ceremony of the 46th annual Deauville American Film Festival.

This article was originally published on