Does sex still sell? a look at Coucou Bebe 75018 "Botox"

Coucou Bebe 75018 presented “Botox”, the brand’s debut womenswear collection in Pigalle. The show took place in France’s last remaining pornography cinema with the seats, floors, and “cleanliness” left as is from previous performances.

At face value, the “fashion show” itself was a short film compiled of multiple X-rated scenes. The scenes included sexual acts, urination, and a Tik Tik haul of one of the brand’s signature bomber jackets. It pictured @darkstarlette wearing a square of leather fabric with the screenprinted words “Parental Advisory Explicit Content”. Another model was pictured in backless biker shorts in the urination and sex scenes set in the woods.

The brand’s last collection named “Testosterone” displayed menswear questioning strength and resistance through scenes of MMA fighters in combat and police uniforms. The Spring/Summer 2026 collection featured another performance-based show with uniform-like bombers that continued the brand’s exploration of strength through the lens of prostitution. The debut of womenswear for CouCou BeBe leaves much to the imagination for what the future holds for the brand.

“This project was never about shock value,” Coucou Bebe 75018 stated in the press notes. “It was about bringing the audience face-to-face with a disappearing cultural and social landscape immersed in the tension between decay and memory.”

CouCou BeBe informed their viewers that the show was never “intended… as provocation, but as a confrontation with Pigalle’s raw reality between discomfort, curiosity, and the memory of a neighborhood that has long embodied Parisian prostitution.” The Tik Tok review hinted towards the idea of pornography in commercial advertisements and selling, though the message was not strong.

Altogether, the presentation was incohesive and did not convey one specific message through their visual work. The only clue toward a cohesive theme was through the brand’s written assessment. They did not achieve a concrete storyline through the slim visual presentation of garments. – Brooke Croushore