Chanel’s latest couture display at the Paris Fashion Week is a finely executed collection channeling theatricality
The show must go on, with aplomb. Chanel’s latest couture display Tuesday was a finely executed collection channeling theatricality.
Few Parisian fashion houses can fill the Paris Opera and gain applause from Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and other luminaries without even having a designer. It’s a testament to Chanel’s enduring power and its world-renowned atelier following Virginie Viard’s abrupt exit on June 5.
Here are some highlights of the fall couture displays:
Guests clutching Chanel opera glasses got happily lost as they explored marble staircases to find a stage in the Opera’s outer corridors, filled with red velvet opera boxes designed by French movie director Christophe Honoré. The stage was set with silhouettes evoking the opera and its heyday: dramatic capes, puffed sleeves and richly embroidered pieces.
The designs’ gleam rivaled only that of the sumptuous 19th-century atrium itself, with shimmering buttons and brilliant threads reflecting the light.
There were moments of drama, with guests reaching for their cameras (being too close for the opera glasses) to capture a black gown with puff sleeves whose feathers, beading and ribbons gleamed provocatively.
This season, there was a welcome move to less accessorizing, a departure from the hallmark of former designer Viard. The focus was on the garments themselves, highlighting the intricate craftsmanship and luxurious materials. Feathers, tassels, embroidered flowers, precious braids, lacquered jersey, supple tweeds, silky velvet, illusion tulle, taffeta, and duchesse satin adorned myriad looks befitting the venue.
Although the necklines were a standout feature—scooped or raised mini-turtle necks—alongside banded, accented shoulders or busts, the collection as a whole had a slightly disparate feel that sometimes seemed to lack a singular aesthetic anchor.
Chanel paid tribute to the ateliers of the “petites mains », or the dozens of artisans who work in six ateliers a stone’s throw from the venue.
For a house that prides itself on perfect image execution, the news that arrived in the middle of the night felt less than polished. Chanel faced its first major event Tuesday without its creative director, who abruptly left after over 30 years with the brand. The announcement was highly unorthodox, just weeks before the couture show.
Later, it emerged that the French couturier would be absent even from her final couture display, with her team stepping in to take charge.
