Paris Jackson has quickly become the fashion industry’s latest It girl, often seen front row at the biggest shows. But her latest appearance at Dior Couture’s spring/summer 2019 Cruise collection event was cut short.
According to The New York Times and other news outlets in attendance, the 20-year-old model abruptly left the French label’s Paris-held runway show on Friday seconds after the first model hit the catwalk. And a source confirmed to PEOPLE that while Jackson did not ‘storm out’ of the show like some reports claimed, she ‘quietly’ left because she had concerns about how the horses were treated during the label’s highly produced event, meant to showcase a women’s rodeo.
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“She was uncomfortable with how the horses were being handled (the whipping sound was loud) so she quietly slipped out,” the insider tells PEOPLE referring to the female rodeo riders who performed on horses during the show. “The ladies performing with the horses were riding side-saddle so they had to use a crop to get the horses to go straight and it was pouring rain with no tent.”
Dior has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The source clarifies: “Paris meant no disrespect to the brand. She loved the collection and had a wonderful time in Paris with Dior.”
The models walked down the runway alongside a group of Escaramuzas, the term for female rodeo riders, who represented the “strong capabilities of women,” which the brand hoped to echo throughout the collection.
“The message is not about horses – it is more about the idea that women can do things that they want – like rodeo,” Dior’s first female artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri told British Vogue. “The shapes are really Dior – pretty and light – but at the same time they are also strong.”
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While Jackson did not feel right staying for the show, she did appear to have fun before the event kicked off. She posed for photographers, danced in the rain and even shared her red carpet snaps on Instagram.
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She also revealed what occupied her time while the show was going on.
“left early n did this,” she captioned a photo of herself standing outside the show in the rain.
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Jackson has previously attended many Dior events and is a big fan of the brand. She was front-row at the Dior Homme Menswear Fall/Winter 2017-2018 show, wore Dior to the Dior Sauvage party in L.A. and wore Dior to her first MTV Video Music Awards in 2017.
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