Every Paris Fashion Week designer's front row has an unspoken uniform: ruffles and platform wedges for Chloé, pleated skirts for Miu Miu, '50s lace for Givenchy. At Nina Ricci's Fall 2025 show, the dress code was seductive in shades of black, from sheer chiffon to peek-a-boo lace—a look Cobra Kai star Peyton List couldn't wait to try.
The actress caught up with Marie Claire from her sunny Paris hotel room just before leaving for her second-ever Paris Fashion Week show—which would be filled with firsts. She had secured her debut invite, and the event was her first time ever wearing the brand, period.
Last season, she embraced Demna's moody Balenciaga aesthetic in a deconstructed sweatshirt dress. Six months later in her pre-Nina Ricci show fitting, List was presented with a range of long, black, slinky silhouettes to test-drive for her next fashion milestone. The best to her was saved for the very last: a long-sleeve black lace dress with strategically-placed black satin panels and a hemline grazing her ankles.
Later, at the show, she'd pair it with daytime-glam soft curls and a smoky eye, along with Nina Ricci pumps featuring a cut-out sculptural heel. Trying it on without all the accessories, she could immediately see the front-row potential.
"When I put it on, everyone was like, 'That's the one," List says with a grin. She holds her sheer sleeves up to the video call's camera to show a lace ruffle at her wrist. "These lace sleeves, that kind of did it for me," she adds. "I just love all these details and vintage-looking touches."
The piece is also a bit of a wearable balancing act: "It's the see-through of lingerie without it being too lingerie to wear out," List says. It captures the duality she appreciates in creative director Harris Reed's work at the house since being appointed in 2022.
"I love what he stands for and how he's breaking traditional gender norms and traditional silhouettes," she says. "He's taking a house from 1932 and changing the narrative around it, but also keeping the tradition."
At a time when List's own story is changing, her dress read like a graduation gown for a VIP style era. "This one is a little sexier than I'm used to," she says, "and felt a little older."
I'm 26 years old now. What kind of characters do I want to play? What kind of stories do I want to tell? I feel like fashion and what you're wearing does end up telling so much of the story.
In a style sense, List's affinity for a brand bridging the past with the present tracks. The actress is at a crossroads of her own. She had starred on the Netflix smash hit Cobra Kai, a high-stakes spin-off of The Karate Kid, since 2018; the series reached its highly-anticipated season 6—and series—finale in February.
The clothes List wore on-set over all those years helped her get into a different sort of character than her fashion week alter-ego—one who could throw punches and one-liners in equal measure. "Playing a martial artist and having to wear a gi every day and having to put on that sort of uniform before stepping into it, is super helpful for just transforming and feeling like we're in the scene," she says.
While she still needed her sensei and stunt coordinators' help to tie her gi belt six seasons in, she'd become a pro at styling herself in comfortable leggings for training and filming. And after more than half a decade filming in performance gear, List appreciated the change in style pace provided by her sensual lace dress and sculptural heels. "I love getting to dress up," she says.
The star wasn't necessarily trying to kickstart a more mature style evolution at the show, where '70s references met modern neutrals. All Peyton List really wanted from her Paris Fashion Week experience was to be present. With her martial arts era in the rearview, she could catch her breath and reconsider where she's going and how she's dressing to get there.
"Knowing that that chapter is done," List reflects, "it's like, okay, I'm 26 years old now. What kind of characters do I want to play? What kind of stories do I want to tell? I feel like fashion and what you're wearing does end up telling so much of the story."
Dressed in Nina Ricci's current house codes, List confirmed this next chapter is, in part, about establishing herself as a fashion girl. The question for next season is: Which designer tribe will she join for her third Paris Fashion Week?
Photographer Gustave Durin | Hair and Makeup Artists Polina Matushkina and Gayla Fedotova of Lenaya Senkova Team
