MJ Photos/WWD/REX/ShutterstockCéline Dion has always had an elegant sense of style, from her head down to the toes of one of her thousands of pairs of shoes.
Set to attend her first-ever Met Gala tonight, the renowned singer talked to Women's Wear Daily about her love of fashion and attachment to her large wardrobe saying, "You can call it crazy. I keep everything, but I just keep buying a bigger [warehouse] space. I have 10,000 pairs of shoes."
If you never throw anything away it might seem possible to collect 10,000 pairs after years of working in the entertainment industry but, the numbers get even crazier when compared to an interview the singer did in 2013 where she told Ellen DeGeneres she had over 3,000 pairs in her Florida mansion.
A champion for shoe addicts everywhere, the star wasn't shy about admitting her love for footwear then either saying, "I also have a beautiful closet..for the shoes, because you know how crazy I am for the shoes."
So how did she end up adding 7,000 pairs to her collection in just four years?
The pop icon has always been a fashion lover but, by her own admission only recently got "in the gang" with the fashion crowd.
She really started catching the eye of the industry in 2016 when she made a major update to her look and hired celebrity stylist Law Roach. Her first moment of fashion fame came at the 2016 Billboard Awards when she made headlines in a gold dress by Russian designer Valentin Yudashkin. Her newfound interest in pushing the envelope continued to gain attention and, according to InStyle, Roach convinced her to start taking more risks with her everyday looks. She and Roach did a lot of shopping and the star debuted new looks daily at Paris Couture Week and other high-profile fashion events, each of which must have required a new pair of shoes.
The Grammy winner also taken on several new projects since her husband René Angélil passed away in January 2016 and, she debuted her new line of handbags and accessories, The Céline Dion Collection at MAGIC in Las Vegas in February. In an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal she said, "René and I didn't plan the handbag collection. That was new, but he would be proud of what we have done. I feel stronger taking on all this new work since his death. He and I were always 50-50 in our life together."
"Why would I put my name on purses and handbags and carry-ons when I don't need to? I love fashion a lot, obviously," she explained her foray into accessories. "I'm a woman on top of it, but it's hard for me to go window shopping. That's bad, it ain't happening with me, there's no window shopping. But I have such a wonderful relationship with my fans, even more than ever.
"People had so much compassion since René passed. I've always been accessible like an open book...I've never had the regular thing of being ordinary and going window shopping. It's not me to want to go into a store that's closed and opens just for me even though I love shopping too much."
In other words, if Céline Dion comes into a store, she's probably there to buy something.
And if the size of her closet speaks to anything, she's never one to go small. Does she think, perhaps, that shoes may be part of her collection one day?
"Instead of just having merchandising and selling T-shirts and programs, I could have leather goods, accessories, luggage, then we can build this if we want to into jewelry, clothing for kids, all that. I'd better stop right there!" she told the paper. "Today I want to enjoy and see how it goes. I'm a dreamer, but I'm becoming more of a believer. I said yes because I'm an accessible artist."
But speaking of saying yes to new opportunities, what's the plan for tonight, her debut Met Gala?
Well, Dion will be attending with longtime friend Donatella Versace, so of course the Italian designer will have a hand in dressing the diva.
"She's always been supporting me and I mean that in different ways," Dion told WWD. "Through her talent and when I was back on stage she helped me with her amazing work to literally support me after delivering twins. Three months [after giving birth] I was on stage and I did not look at all like I just had twins. I don't know how she does it."
"This is like having a job for the first time or having a kiss for the first time—this is big," the singer said. "I'm not going to have enough eyes [to see it all]."