“We’re like an orchestra," explained one of the Chanel courtiers from the house’s Rue Cambon atelier in a video released earlier this week. She’s referring to working in tandem with the rest of the Chanel couture team, who spend thousands of hours on each garment (often forgoing sleep), each of which requires between 25 and 30 measurements. The film, which was created to mark 110 years of Chanel couture, offered an intimate glance into the inner workings of one of the oldest couture houses in the world.
And the weight of the occasion was reflected in the audience as Kylie Jenner — fitted out in a white chained Chanel skirt suit—sat next to Pamela Anderson in the FROW. Elsewhere a giant-bow clad Dua Lipa was spotted, as well as Chanel’s former faces Jennie Kim and Lily Rose Depp.
The audience entered the Grand Palais on sweeping white bridges, akin to Frank Lloyd’s interior design at the Guggenheim museum, and the show was—fittingly, given the courtier’s metaphor— scored by Orchestral music.
The collection itself was surprisingly colourful for Chanel: skirt suits were rendered in turquoise and gold, or with lapels lined with red or yellow silk. A bleached-browed Alex Consani walked the runway in a butter yellow frock with diamonte buttons, and all of the models sported a statement lip in either black or red. “Gabrielle Chanel loved colour,” explained a courtier in the film, “the show will be magnificent, a tribute to Mademoiselle's palette.”
The collection was also brimming with references to the brand’s OG techniques. Braiding, topstiched jackets, embroidered buttonholes, and hem chains all featured heavily, alongside a throwback to Chanel’s 1993 couture feathers. In a rare move for couture —which is generally loyal to defined silhouettes — the majority of the fits were loose, while bras were tossed aside, a nod to the brand’s longstanding dedication to comfort (It was Coco Chanel, after all, who brought women’s trousers into the mainstream).
Standout outfits came in the form of a billowing cornflower blue silk cape, and the finale; a non-traditional bridalwear look, with a model emerging down the runway in an asymmetrical skirt with a train, a glittering jacket fastened with a bow, and her face cloaked in a veil. As mentioned in the BTS film, when you wear Chanel haute couture, “you slip on a piece of art.”
All featured images via Getty ©
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