Chanel © Copyright 2020

Chanel © Copyright 2020

Chanel © Copyright 2020

“A very simple, very pure momentum. Romanticism but without any flourishes. Emotions but without any frills,” explains Virginie Viard. “Movement, air… For the runway show, no frame. I don’t like framing.” Freedom, energy, desire for the absolute. Gabrielle Chanel – always – whose racehorse was called ‘Romantica’, the film Les Biches by Chabrol for his Parisiennes who are as feminine as they are amazones, and a photo of Karl Lagerfeld wearing a striped suit with riding boots.

For this CHANEL Fall-Winter 2020/21 Ready-to-Wear collection, “almost no dresses, just casaques (jockey silks). Jodhpurs that open over seven-league boots, a nod to those belonging to Karl. For the first time there are press studs on the suits for a more lively gesture,” continues Virginie Viard. Lots of black and white. Just a few touches of pale green and the emblematic pink of the House. A softness. An outline, punctured with imposing jewellery.

“I love CHANEL so much, this collection could only be a new ode.”

Chanel © Copyright 2020

Chanel © Copyright 2019

Chanel © Copyright 2019

A youthful breeze of liberty blows across the rooftops of Paris. Or more precisely those installed in the nave of the Grand Palais for the CHANEL Spring-Summer 2020 Ready-to-Wear show. Roofs so typical of the fashion capital and the rue Cambon with their zinc surfaces, walkways, chimney pots and windows opening onto the sky.

“The roofs of Paris remind me of the atmosphere of the Nouvelle Vague. I saw silhouettes walking on the roofs. I thought about Kristen Stewart playing Jean Seberg and all the actresses Gabrielle Chanel dressed at that time,” says Virginie Viard, Artistic Director of the Fashion collections.

Today, the ethereal allure is dancing. Accessorised with sandals that come with jewelled or strass-embellished straps or are flat and two-tone, and occasionally little hats, the silhouette is fluid and light. The materials are supple and hinder no movements. For both day and night, the collection plays with the simplicity and balance of volume. Jackets with flounced collars and cuffs and short skirts reinterpret the tweed suit.

Capri pants and denim jackets with ruffles also join the dance. Very pure little white coats finished with braid, are worn with voluminous skirts and tops in black and white tweed. The straight-cut masculine tweed jacket is revisited, transformed into playsuits, jumpsuits or a little dress with a flared skirt. Long coats come in tweed or wool crêpe while a striped top and a carelessly knotted shirt add masculine-feminine accents.

Satin, silk faille and taffetas carry the short, wraparound or asymmetric skirts, always worn high on the waist: petticoated, or not, with organza, they move with an unimpeded freedom. Their charm is enhanced with ruffled tops and delicate pleated blouses with balloon sleeves embellished with little bows or raffia and organza petals.

In their transparency, the fabrics reveal the breathtaking work of the ateliers required for the construction of the dresses and their handkerchief hems. Tiers of printed chiffon, organza, feathers and raffia fringes structure the delicate tops and long skirts. Embroidered around the collar with sequins in matte red like a lipstick, dresses in anthracite chiffon are printed with Parisian facades.

Their flat pleats seem ready to float away with beautiful amplitude. A series of skirts, jackets and a long dress pass by in silk twill printed in the tonalities of dusk, with braids and trimmings in two-tone grosgrain.

Stripes, checks, vibrant block colours – red, orange, pink, blue – illuminate the collection and the emblematic black and white of the House. The prints are in unison: on one ultra-graphic version, the letters of CHANEL haphazardly stand out from the roofs.

In a large version, the CHANEL 19 bag comes swathed in printed silk twill, while the 11.12 bag is back in tweed to match its suit. Zip-up bags in leather or tweed are reminiscent of schoolgirls’ pencil cases: the CHANEL signature appears handwritten in chain interlaced with leather.

The flap bag is refreshed with a wrist bracelet or a braid in two-tone grosgrain ribbon. Others have a more precious note: beads set with chains or sequinned embroideries with floral motifs. Gently, a ruffle is laid here on a strap or there on the flap of a half-moon clutch.

Ever present, couture jewellery is worn in accumulation: pearl sautoirs and brooches, necklaces in coloured crystal or punctuated with strass-covered balls and cuff bracelets signed CHANEL PARIS.

Feminine, urban, in motion, never the same and yet always identifiable, the silhouette of CHANEL’s Spring-Summer 2020 Ready-to-Wear collection has the nonchalant grace of a cinematographic heroine. Inspiring, contemporary, eternal.

Chanel © Copyright 2019

Chanel© Copyright 2019

Peaks as far as the eye can see, a street and snow-topped chalets. This season, the Grand Palais is transformed into a peaceful mountain village to welcome the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2019/20 Ready-to-Wear collection. A metamorphosis imagined by Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard, in the atmosphere of a beautiful winter’s day, in the grand nave, a place so dear to the House.

Wearing brogans enhanced with a platform sole, protected beneath tweed fedoras, the elegant mountain dwellers seize the spirit of romantic dandies as they walk through the powdery snow. Created by Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard, the silhouettes of the collection are warmed by a wardrobe marked with masculine/feminine accents, a major stamp of the CHANEL style. A palette of winter white, beige, black and navy blue is punctuated with flashes of purple, fuchsia, brick and emerald green.

With houndstooth, tartan and big check motifs, a dusting of snowflakes, in chevrons or imitating astrakhan, top stitched and quilted, tweed displays its masculinity on suits with wide-cut trousers worn high at the waist, coupled with great overcoats. Fastened with a high collar or a shawl collar and mini cape, enhanced with a trompe-l’œil bolero or a faux fur lapel, sometimes embellished with martingales, straight or double-breasted, trapeze or belted, maxi pockets slit or buttoned and folded down, the coats are different every time.

The tweed jackets are trimmed with a thick wool braid, woven or left almost raw. Others reveal a flared collar and a trompe-l’œil bolero. The big soft knit pullovers alternate with sweaters embroidered with crystals and cardigans with mountain motifs. Ski outfits are mixed with urban wear: a down jacket is sported with wide-cut trousers in big check tweed, while a zip-up ski-suit comes in tri-colour tweed.

Braided or adorned with a patch pocket to slip in a ski-pass, little tweed jackets are combined with a pencil skirt, and an outfit of over-jacket and wide-cut trousers in leather. Knitted scarves in embroidered chiffon worn against bare skin, big blouses with jabots, sautoir necklaces of chains and glass beads, plastron necklaces and white pearl earrings … there’s a great softness about the collection.

The desire for sophisticated comfort emanates from the silhouettes. A very feminine delicacy escapes from these maxi enveloping volumes. It flows over second skin tops, skirts and dresses in white chiffon printed with mini skiers and CC chairlifts, with scalloped collars and flounces that float to the rhythm of the body’s movements.

Romanticism abounds with the great capes in wool, the dresses with Claudine collars and tiers of rounded panels, the skirts in snowy guipure lace and the white tuxedos in duchess satin. Finally, the “snow-ball” skirts and dresses in chiffon and feathers with the bust embroidered with snowflakes in white and gold vinyl, distil the modernity, youth and dash of humour that characterise the CHANEL woman.

The bags match the tones of a season in the mountains: in black or white smooth quilted leather, supple in quilted tweed with a double C clasp interlaced with leather, a flap in faux fur or a camera case in braided shearling. Removable purses are attached to small bags with shoulder straps. Hip bags in faux fur or leather embroidered with glossy camellias alternate with gondola lift minaudières in rhinestoned resin.

The emblematic bags of the House joyfully slalom between the chalet spirit for the CHANEL’s GABRIELLE bag in leather and fluffy checked tweed, a frosted inspiration for the 11.12 embroidered with sequins, and its all schuss energy for the 2.55 in neon orange quilted leather.

Eternal and constantly renewed, identifiable and yet different every time, the allure of CHANEL illuminates winter with its daring and dazzling freshness.

Chanel © Copyright 2019

Chanel© Copyright 2018

THE CRUISE, THE TIME FOR A STOPOVER WITH CHANEL

More than just a tradition, setting out on a journey for the Cruise collection is a highly anticipated rendezvous. It’s the guarantee of a change of scenery, of beaches, of beauty and discovering a place, an era, an art de vie.

When Gabrielle Chanel presented a small collection at the end of Fall 1919, intended for holiday resorts and Biarritz in particular, did she have any idea she was initiating a brand-new fashion movement? Did she know she was bringing forth the first ever Cruise Collection? American Vogue sensed the thrill, revealing in its November edition that year, that the couturier’s designs, although « do not differ particularly from those which she exhibited last year », they formed a collection that « differs entirely from anything else shown in Paris at the same time. »

Lighter, imperatively more comfortable, these unlined designs in jersey and these sweaters were ideal for yachting, spa towns, seaside resorts, and sun-drenched destinations like the Riviera and Venice with its Lido beaches. Six years earlier, in Deauville, she had launched outfits inspired by sailor suits, that she revisited in woollen jersey, then in silk jersey. They were as soft as they were fluid, practical to wear daily without ever loosing that established CHANEL allure. From sailor to cruise ship, there was but one step.

Chanel pushed ever further the cursor of this small line judiciously wedged between two seasons. Responding to her own needs, she added suits and evening dresses for holidays and luxury cruise ships, then very fashionable for a life «of destinations», one that pierced the cold months of a Parisian winter with rays of sunshine. An originality revealed by Harper’s Bazaar in December 1933 in an article about «Cruise clothes», and then again by L’Officiel de la Mode in December 1936, delighted to discover «a very complete mid-season collection» and that perfectly illustrated the unique concept of Gabrielle Chanel’s fashion.

To never be like anyone else, to swim against the current, to make her own desires and lifestyle her principal source of inspiration, this was what guided Mademoiselle Chanel in her creativity. A sea lover, she sailed at length on the yachts belonging to the Duke of Westminster, the Flying Cloud and the Cutty Sark. It was while docking in Monte-Carlo on the Flying Cloud, that she discovered the village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and fell for the charm of a domain which from 1928 would be home to her property La Pausa. It was on this same boat that she met architect Robert Streitz, to whom she entrusted all the work on her Provençal residence.

Irreverent with her tomboy style, Gabrielle Chanel was occasionally seen on the deck of these boats heckling with Bendor, as the Duke of Westminster was nicknamed, sporting Bermuda shorts or wide-cut men’s trousers and a gilet that we today would call oversized. She was often seen basking in the sun, eyes shaded by her famous sunglasses. This woman who revelled in her freedom more than anything, felt what women would soon be dreaming of : a fashion for now and for the future, visionary in every detail. Gabrielle Chanel’s talent didn’t need to prove itself anymore.

And neither does Karl Lagerfeld’s. At a time when fashion had almost turned its back on the so-called cruise collections, the designer spun the ship’s wheel the other direction. As soon as he arrived at the helm in 1983, he breathed new life into this hyphen between two seasons and it has continued to grow, becoming one of the most important moments in the year. Is it just about slipping a few swimsuits and light dresses in-between two suits? Absolutely not! Responding to the needs of those who seek sunshine in the winter was not enough: Karl Lagerfeld thus transformed Cruisewear into a line that anticipates the warmer days to come, a completely renewed wardrobe, never stuck to the previous one or the one to come.

A collection in its own right, with its own story, its own identity, its own inspiration, quick to nourish desire and to brighten the gaze. A collection that embodies travelling in all its forms, real or imaginary, temporal or historic, and that he wanted to land all over the world, like a magnificent postcard: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Venice, Saint-Tropez, the Cap d’Antibes, Singapore, Seoul, Cuba and even Versailles in the XVIII century and Paris, metamorphosed into the epicentre of Ancient Greece.

To dream, to let the imagination float away on a reinvented tweed, a diaphanous lace, a colorama imbued with sunshine, sublimate women in a little black dress… Isn’t that ultimately what fashion is all about? Is it not for this reason, among others, that CHANEL, is like no other and will always be CHANEL? It’s almost anchors away, so we wish you a bon voyage and a beautiful Cruise.

Chanel © Copyright 2018

A forest has grown beneath the nave of the Grand Palais. Surrounded by blue sky warmed by a gentle sun, trees stripped bare by the season and a floor covered with autumn leaves compose an Indian summer, as Karl Lagerfeld says.

Within this decor, a palette of russets, reds and orange, moss and pine green, bark brown, prints of foliage or rings of grey wood, accompany the signature black and white of the House. Details so dear to CHANEL add their own touch: branch-like braids, jewelled buttons chiselled with leaves, sautoirs of beads and pastel-hued glass paste, necklaces and bracelets interlaced with chains and beads, cabochon and graphic pendent earrings.

The tweed, classic, downy, frayed or woven, alternates with broadcloth, cotton canvas, soft knits, corduroy and velvet. Thigh boots, boots and brogues in oxide gold leather, pink leather fingerless gloves, faux fur cuffs encrusted with feathers, and big colourful scarves all warm this modern and comfortable silhouette. “Chanel, it’s life itself, clothes that have a possibility of life”, adds Karl Lagerfeld.

The long and tubular silhouette is held with square shoulders, clean and high collars. It flares out little by little with godets and peplums in the style of horizontal double ponchos. The iconic jacket is lengthened to mid-thigh or worn short at the waist. The CHANEL suit is twisted with poncho peplums. Long pencil-cut, straight or double-breasted coats accentuate the purity of line. Each time, this is reinforced with a game of topstitching in relief.

Sometimes the sleeves are doubled with a draping from the shoulder, extended with unlined cuffs. The pencil line of skirts and dresses is interrupted with a slit, a godet and a slightly dropped waist. The belted trousers adopt exaggerated volumes. Large overcoats skim the floor, twisting the spirit of great capes by adding sleeves with wide turnback cuffs or sometimes cuffs and hems finished with feathers.

The new bag, named 31, created by Karl Lagerfeld joins the family of CHANEL accessories: the generous shape of this shopper combines smooth leather with quilted leather, printed cotton canvas or tweed. Large bags in shearling gently traverse the winter. This season the 11.12 bag is adorned with rhinestoned bark motifs. CHANEL’s GABRIELLE bag returns as a mini version to match the outfits. The camellia is transformed into a sparkling evening bag while a wooden log becomes a minaudière in precious resin.

The collection calls upon winter in a sophistication pushed to the extreme for evening. At its heart, CHANEL’s little black dress reaches its ultimate, refined and most obvious expression. Fragile dresses in embroidered tulle and organza are worn beneath a quilted down jacket finished with braid. Leather comes encrusted with lace over a little black dress with draped sleeves and is back as trousers worn with a chiffon blouse highlighted by multiple ruffles at the elbows.

Chevroned ribbons encase sheath dresses or a jabot adorns the collar of a dress in pleated tulle. Crêpe blouses are quilted at the shoulder and the wrists. Lace and black velvet are barely powdered with silver, sequins are just as subtle, never flashy. Capes in faux fur enhanced with feathers envelop layers of dresses in lace. Playing with the transparency of the material, their leaf inlayed motifs reveal the very veins of the foliage like a filigree.

This is the grace of nature, strong yet fragile, constantly reborn in all its splendour and purity. A perpetual renouveau reminding us that time has no influence on the icons, the style and the allure of CHANEL.

Chanel © Copyright 2018

Chanel Haute Couture© Copyright 2017

Chanel Haute Couture © Copyright 2017

Chanel Haute Couture© Copyright 2017

Transpose the ambiance of 31, rue Cambon without copying every detail. That’s what Karl Lagerfeld had in mind for the presentation of the Spring-Summer 2017 Haute Couture collection at the Grand Palais. In a décor inspired by the 1930’s and Art Deco, the setting recalls the mirrors that reflect the grand staircase leading up to the CHANEL Haute Couture salons. This time it’s the beige sofas that seem to have multiplied. On the same principle a large cylinder acts as a kaleidoscope in the midst of the runway: in front of it, the models appear to pass by infinitely, their silhouettes also reflecting in the smoky mirrored tiles engraved with the iconic quilting motif.

With slicked back hair and a “flattened” top hat tilted backwards, and silver-leather high heels or thigh boots, this season’s look is all about a crazy femininity: with structured shoulders, defined and slightly raised waists, it reveals the accentuated hips. A glamorous silhouette reinforced by the presence of straight or tubular lines, daringly low-cut décolletés and faux pearl jewellery transformed into anklets. Alongside the major hues of white, silver and grey, the palette – illuminated each time with metallic, silver, sparkling and iridescent notes – blows hot and cold, moving from beige, pink, yellow, blue and pastel green through to black and navy.

With great delicacy, the tweed suits with embroidered braid are draped at the waist, thus enhancing the curves of their tulip skirts. Playing with trompe l’oeil they become dress-coats, the jacket appearing to be tucked into a pencil skirt. At the back, ample golf pleats ensure the utmost comfort. Just as feminine and worn with tweed jackets, the dresses with officer or lavallière collars are dressed up in shimmering tones. Pleated skirts and dresses are paired with coats in iridescent tweeds.

For evening, the silhouettes come swathed in radzimir, duchess satin, organza and taffetas, flocked and laminated lace, tulle, jacquard and georgette. The pearlised floral embroideries and glittering faceted stones shine over the sheath dresses and those with more generous volumes occasionally kept warm with stoles in tulle, feathers and lace. Sheath dresses take turns at being enveloped in floor-skimming mirrored embroidery, strips of sequin embellished lace, or balls of feathers. Draped bustiers embroidered with rhodoid flowers and leaves, big skirts and dresses in tulle, deep and square-cut necklines plunging to the start of the waist and marabou boleros: a delicate and gracious sensuality seizes this collection that concludes with the arrival of CHANEL ambassador Lily Rose Depp who walks the runway in a wedding gown composed of diaphanous flounces in pale pink organza.

This Tuesday, January 24th, the House ambassadors Vanessa Paradis, Anna Mouglalis, Caroline de Maigret, Alma Jodorowsky, G-Dragon and Shin Hye Park, the singer Cécile Cassel, the English actress Lucy Boynton as well as French actresses Laura Smet, Céline Sallette and Karidja Touré were all present at the Grand Palais to applaud the CHANEL Spring-Summer 2017 Haute Couture collection.#HC17#ChanelHauteCouture

Chanel Haute Couture © Copyright 2017