There are certain celebrity photographs that instantly carry us back to another era. Long before every vacation moment became a carefully edited social-media post, photographers occasionally captured famous faces during surprisingly ordinary afternoons—swimming, laughing with friends, and enjoying a few hours away from red carpets and television cameras.
One memorable series of photographs did exactly that.
The images show Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne enjoying a yacht getaway in Saint-Tropez, France, on July 22, 2014. Though the photographs have continued circulating online years later, they are not recent pictures. Getty Images identifies the occasion as a 2014 celebrity sighting on the French Riviera.
A Summer Afternoon Far From Hollywood
In the photographs, Gomez and Delevingne look very different from the polished figures people were accustomed to seeing at premieres and fashion events.
Wet hair replaced elaborate styling. Swimwear replaced designer gowns. Instead of posing before a wall of flashing cameras, the two young women were simply spending time aboard a yacht surrounded by the brilliant blue water of southern France.
Video : Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne in Saint Tropez doing Jet Ski
At the time, both were entering important periods in their careers.
Gomez had already grown from a television favorite into a successful recording artist and actress, while Delevingne was becoming one of the most recognizable models of her generation and beginning to expand her work into film.
Yet none of that seems particularly important in these candid frames.
For a few hours, they simply looked like two friends enjoying summer.
A Friendship Captured Without the Red Carpet
The photographs were taken during celebrations surrounding Gomez’s 22nd birthday. Contemporary reports described Gomez and Delevingne spending time together in Saint-Tropez, enjoying activities including boating, Jet Skiing and parasailing before attending events in the area.
That context gives the pictures a charming time-capsule quality today.
There is something unmistakably mid-2010s about them—the carefree Mediterranean vacation, the paparazzi photographs taken from a distance, and two young celebrities whose careers were still evolving in ways neither the public nor perhaps the women themselves could completely predict.
Video : Selena Gomez And Cara Delevingne Are Still Living It Up In St Tropez | Splash News TV
For longtime entertainment fans, looking at them now can feel a little like opening an old magazine discovered at the back of a drawer.
You remember the faces immediately.
But you also remember the era.
The Unpolished Moments People Rarely Saw
One of the most striking things about the photographs is how ordinary the scene appears.
After spending time in the water, Gomez and Delevingne were photographed rinsing off beneath an outdoor shower aboard the yacht. Contemporary coverage from July 2014 described the friends washing away the seawater following their day of activities.
There are no carefully arranged poses.
There is no stage lighting.
There is simply water falling from the shower, damp hair, summer sunshine and the familiar routine that follows a long afternoon in the sea.
Perhaps that is why candid celebrity photographs from years past remain so fascinating. They briefly removed the distance between the public and the stars whose photographs filled magazines.
Another Familiar Face Entered the Story
The vacation also attracted attention because Gomez was photographed spending time with businessman Tommaso Chiabra.
Coverage published at the time described Gomez drying off aboard the yacht while Chiabra stood nearby, with Delevingne also present during the Saint-Tropez outing.
Naturally, photographs involving celebrities often inspired speculation about friendships and romances. But more than a decade later, there is little reason to turn an old vacation photograph into something more dramatic than it was.
What remains interesting is the moment itself.
A young star celebrating her birthday. Friends enjoying the Mediterranean. A yacht anchored beneath the summer sun.
For anyone who remembers entertainment magazines from that period, it is an instantly recognizable scene.
How Much Can Change in a Decade
Looking at those photographs today also reminds us how quickly popular culture moves.
The Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne pictured here were young women standing near the beginning of major new chapters.
Delevingne would increasingly move beyond modeling and establish herself as an actress, taking roles in projects including Paper Towns, Suicide Squad and later Only Murders in the Building.
Gomez’s career would likewise continue developing across music, television, film and business.
Ironically, the two friends would eventually share the screen years after this Mediterranean vacation when Delevingne appeared alongside Gomez in Only Murders in the Building.
That later collaboration makes the old photographs feel even more like pages from an unfinished story.
Why Old Celebrity Photos Still Feel Special
For older readers especially, photographs like these may recall an entertainment culture that once moved at a slower pace.
A celebrity photograph could remain memorable for weeks. People encountered it at the supermarket checkout, inside a Sunday newspaper supplement, or while flipping through a favorite magazine over morning coffee.
Today, thousands of images can disappear down a social-media feed before lunchtime.
Perhaps that is why rediscovering an old photograph can be unexpectedly nostalgic.
It isn’t only about recognizing Selena Gomez or Cara Delevingne.
It’s about remembering 2014—the music people were playing, the movies they were watching, the clothes everyone wore, and perhaps even where they themselves were when these young stars were enjoying one sunny afternoon in Saint-Tropez.
Sometimes an old photograph preserves much more than a face.
It preserves a moment in time.
