Mia Rowe went to Paris Fashion Week looking for inspiration. Alongside her daughter Ella, she found out how differently two generations can approach the same clothes.
By Peter Koloff
On the night of September 28, Mia Rowe and her daughter Ella stood together on the cobblestones outside Maxim’s, both in black, with La Madeleine lit up at the end of the street. Ella wore a sheer black top, a fitted skirt and knee-high boots. Mia had picked a short black dress, statement earrings and feathered heels.
It was the first time that week I photographed them together, and their different instincts were already obvious.
Mia runs Mia Edit, a personal styling business that helps women build wardrobes that fit their lives. For her, Paris Fashion Week is partly research, and the runway is only one place she looks.
“I’m looking for the most stylish people that I can see,” she told me when I asked what she watches for.
She means the people who put together something unexpected: the looks worth remembering and, sometimes, worth recreating.
This season she had another reason to enjoy Paris. It was Ella’s first Fashion Week.
Two Generations, Different Instincts
Her mother described it as being “like out of a movie” for Ella. Ella planned her own looks, did much of her own makeup and seemed to enjoy getting ready as much as the events themselves.
“We had the best time,” Mia said.
Photographing them over the week showed me something more interesting than a shared love of clothes.
“We have totally different senses of style,” Mia said. She calls Ella the minimalist and herself the maximalist.
At the Leonie Hanne for Guess event at Baronne on September 29, you could see it in a single frame. Ella wore a high-neck black dress that broke into a sheer skirt scattered with black floral appliqués. Mia stood beside her in a checked mini dress, a big fur coat and statement earrings. Ella’s look was one silhouette with one surprising finish. Mia’s was several textures competing on purpose.
At Balmain, Mia wore a floor-length black gown with sculpted shoulders and cutouts. Ella went with a structured leather jacket, an asymmetric skirt and, again, tall boots.
Neither of them was dressed quietly. That’s what the photographs kept showing me. Ella’s minimalism has little to do with restraint. She commits to one strong idea and lets it carry the look. Mia would rather combine three.
Black Lace, Two Ways
For Givenchy, they both arrived in black lace. Mia wore a long, high-necked gown with dense floral lace, a bow at the waist and a jeweled headband. Ella wore a short lace slip dress with thin straps, a small cutout and a simple choker.
Same color, same fabric, and the two dresses looked like they came from different decades.
At the Gucci party on October 3, things loosened up. They sat close together on a banquette in oversized sunglasses, Ella in a zebra-print jacket, Mia in black leather with a statement belt and necklace and a glass of white wine in her hand. It’s one of the most relaxed photographs from the week.
Valentino, in Red and Black
For Valentino on October 4, Ella wore a strapless red mini dress with red thigh-high boots, one saturated color from top to bottom. Mia wore black lace with a jagged, layered hem, statement jewelry and metallic accessories.
Ella made her point with one color and one uninterrupted line. Mia made hers with texture, movement and detail. Both outfits were loud. They just spoke different languages.
Bringing Paris Back to Mia Edit
The week also had a practical side for Mia. Most of her clients are women who want to look their best but can’t spend their days thinking about clothes.
“For me, it’s about helping other women look and feel their best,” she said. “Entrepreneurs, CEOs, women who want to hire me because they want to look their best and don’t have a lot of time to do it.”
Paris gives her material to work with: unexpected combinations and the small ways people use clothes to project confidence. The work is translating that for women whose weeks are spent in boardrooms, not at fashion shows. A look can be a starting point without being copied, and what works on one woman may need to be rebuilt entirely for the next.
She had a close-up example of that all week. She and Ella attended the same shows, saw the same collections and came away with their own ideas intact, neither willing to disappear into the background.
Paris Fashion Week, September to October 2026.
Photography: Peter Koloff & Katerina Kepka for Peter Koloff Studio
Makeup: @lidav
Hair: @bpalestino
Further reading from Da Vinci Magazine: WashWise and Láyn Redefine Luxury Through Vintage at NYFW
