With the late Karl Lagerfeld’s passing, the House of Chanel unveiled its first solo collection designed by the designer’s successor Virginie Viard and the message was pretty clear: CHANEL after Karl Lagerfeld is a moving train. Isn’t it how you would translate a runway show staged in a Beaux Arts Parisian train station? Or so would the Maison have you think, with its transformation of the Grand Palais.
Indeed, the venue was completely altered into a lavish train station complete with platforms and an elegant café-restaurant Le Riviera, where Virginie Viard tells the tale of fashion blowing through the bounds of time, an escapade that bursts with action and movements. So what was the collection like, might you ask?
Think of it as a concrete realization of the House’s classic color palette, gently infused with hints of pink, green, blue, fuchsia, mauve, mocha browns, navy and cobalt blues – like a rare landscape blurred by the speed of a train. Better yet, think of it as a 79 look-collection chockfull of comfortably elegant pieces, from bold suit-ensembles to tweed numbers – of course – and the House’s classic accessories. There were fresh and revisited takes on the House’s moniker tweed suits and there were jackets and wide trousers with double buttons in gabardine or waxed cotton to highlight workmen’s uniforms. There were also hooded trench coats, pointed pumps, two-tone booties and tweed ballerinas. The collection was enriched with a certain rightful simplicity, one that would timelessly take voyageurs into a never-ending adventure with class and functionality. But perhaps the most eye-grabbing thing about the collection was probably the whirlwind of bows, bustiers and sparkling flowers – all of which were infusing the Maison with a new femininity.
The star-studded show was attended by the likes of Keira Knightley, Lily-Rose Depp, Claudia Schiffer and so many more famous faces.
