Céline Dion gets personal with behind-the-scenes stories of her biggest fashion moments | CBC Music

Céline Dion has been back in the news recently for a couple of reasons: her new documentary, I Am Céline Dion, which will air June 25, and her new profile in the May edition of Vogue France. The Quebec-born singer gave her first health update in more than a year during her interview with Vogue France, saying she’s “working very hard” to be able to perform again one day.

But the profile also gave Dion fans another gem: a candid video of the singer going through 13 of her biggest fashion moments for the Vogue France series Life in Looks. In it, Dion, who is well known for her fashion sense and iconic looks, is emotional and funny, breaking into song multiple times and divulging plenty of behind-the-scenes tidbits.

The first look Dion dives into from the photo album presented to her is the corset and jeans from her 1991 TV concert special 10 ans déjà. “I was obviously dressing myself at that time … I thought I looked hot,” she said, looking a bit horrified. “But looking today, I have to respect that very much because you look at my face and my energy and the way that I just [pumps her fist] I own the jeans and the top and the microphone and the stage and the guitar player [sharp inhale]. It was — fashion changed, life changes.”

“It’s touching for me because it’s my early days,” she continued. “It’s the same passion. It’s the same me.” Then she paused and asked: “Should I really have the courage to turn the next page [in the photo album]?”

Thankfully she does, because next comes an unexpected story about how the headpiece she wore at her wedding in 1994 to late husband René Angélil ended with her being on antibiotics for three weeks.

When Dion gets to her 1998 outfit for the 70th Academy Awards, she goes back to her time recording the Titanic megahit “My Heart Will Go On.”

“There’s a big story about this picture because James Cameron, the director of the movie, did not want any song,” she said, laughing. “He said, ‘My movie is great enough, I don’t need any songs.'” 

Not only that, but Dion didn’t want to sing the song. They recorded her demo for it anyway — “I know that when I get into a studio and I hear music, I get into a character and I even sell it to myself,” she said — and the rest is history.

For the 1998 ceremony she wore a Michael Kors dress that the two collaborated on. “I asked him if he would be willing to do a turtleneck dress, [that fits] like a glove,” she said. “And he looked at me like, ‘Are you sure you wanna have a turtleneck?’ The decoté, the sparkles of the [Heart of the Ocean necklace], that was not the point for me. I want to sing the song the best I can, and wearing this [from jeweller] Asprey, the Heart of the Ocean, this is the moment: the Oscar, the dress that I felt good in and — it won.”

Titanic continues to be a theme in Dion’s fashion moments, as Vogue France also included her viral 2017 photo taken in Paris of the singer wearing an oversized hoodie with the Titanic sinking against a backdrop of Rose and Jack’s faces, styled by Law Roach — who also worked with Dion for her 2024 Grammy Awards appearance. 

The video ends poignantly on that 2024 Grammy appearance, which was Dion’s first major event since she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in 2022. Dion wore a long coat with her outfit, which she said made her “feel better for a moment.”

“To hold on to this coat, to hide myself a little bit from all these little things,” she explained.

She then started singing her 2019 single “Imperfections,” staring vulnerably into the Vogue camera. Watch the full video above, and follow the time stamps in the description to find your favourite moments.