I have never attended Couture Fashion Week as a guest of Chanel. It must be an opulent moment to imagine what it must feel like to receive an invitation with camellias on it for the first time, to be dressed by the Maison, and to sit at the feet of the Fall 2024 collection as it glides by. She says she didn't know what to expect from the Chanel Couture show. As she prepared to ascend the steps of the Palais Garnier in Paris, home of the Opera House and this season's runway, Sawai knew how she wanted to dress. [A few hours after her front row debut, Sawai told me, "I knew what I wanted to do. She and her stylist, Carla Welch, were caught between two aesthetically opposing routes.

In the end, Sawai chose the path of less excess. The leather waistcoat and coordinating Bermuda shorts were from Chanel's Cruise 2024/25 collection, which debuted earlier this spring. According to Sawai, this was the closest thing to her true way of dressing." When I go to shows like this, I wanted to at least stay grounded and be myself."

"I wanted to be able to wear the same clothes that I would wear to a show like this," she said.

Putting the other looks together was a lesson in juxtaposition. Sawai opted for pointed-toe heels, increasing the elegance of the set to match the biker chick's energy. And hair and makeup," she explains, "I tried to strike a balance. [With makeup artist Yumi Mori and hairstylist Jennifer Yepes, Sawai leaned on a classic style: a fresh makeup look with rosy pink blush, and smartly bun hair with parts pulled out to frame the face. She also tried to incorporate another contrasting element: "I finished with a beautiful Chanel bow," she said.

As Sawai took her seat, she was not swept away by the suspended chandeliers and velvet-lined staircase of the opera house. Her eyes focused straight on the more modest pieces in the over-the-top lineup.

When I asked if there were any looks she would have liked to wear on the runway, Sawai spoke directly to the heart of my New York uniform dresser. She laughs, "There were some great black looks, and I'm a pretty simple girl." A dress layered with chandelier beads and embroidery, plus a mesh skirt, offered her a "fancy fancy dinner."

Guests who have sat in the same seats and seen the same models season after season might, perhaps, feel jaded by the whole affair. Sawai, seeing it for the first time, soaked in the details that might be overlooked in an Instagram story.

"I didn't expect it to be such a theatrical experience," she says. She paid close attention not only to the clothes, but also to how they were presented. I could hear the footsteps of the models. I thought it was just a tape playing, but it was actually someone holding a microphone at her feet." Turning her focus to the bead belt became an exercise in runway ASMR: "I hear them bumping into each other and making this very high toned beautiful ring."

Perhaps Sawai was looking for these details so carefully because she had seen one in progress just the day before. Prior to the runway, she had visited artisans in the Chanel atelier, working hard to put the final touches on the feathers, beads, and camelia flowers used in each look.

"I was struck by how much time and how many people are involved in creating a single flower," she said. The experience itself was new to me and very extravagant."

For some guests, today's show is the first and last time onlookers will see them in their best tweeds and collarless jackets - at least until the next season's runway. Sawai's next Chanel moment will come a little sooner. In the second season of Apple TV's "Pachinko," premiering this August, she will be donning a vintage Chanel suit as big-time lawyer Naomi.

As Sawai explains, dressing for a generational period piece is not so different from dressing for a modern front row. When she wears Chanel on screen, she is bringing out the best in herself. My role is that of a woman in the '80s," she explains, "who has to confront her masculinity within the company. 'Gabrielle Chanel fought for women's liberation and to make them comfortable.'

And while Sawai may be more accustomed to walking on a prestige TV set than up the stairs of a couture show, she still feels the same way where her wardrobe is concerned: "I was very lucky to wear a Chanel suit! ". I was so lucky to be able to wear a Chanel suit."