December 7, 2016 |
Remember that old Sixties call to arms? If you’re going to San Francisco wear a flower in your hair? Well, it’s been updated, by Chanel, for now – if you’re walking into the Ritz Paris wear flowers, plural, in your hair. Which begs the question, was this Chanel Métiers d’Arts show a homage to some Sixties hippy girl, or Frida Kahlo maybe? The flowers in the hair would seem to suggest so. As would the strong eye. Frida was more strong brow admittedly, but they’re both in the same general facial area – are strong eyes the new strong brows? Not that anything else did. This was more, simply, a homage to Mme Chanel herself. Well, the show was set in the Ritz where she maintained a suite for 37 years. And the tweed was monochrome, which was, after all, her favourite colour palette – as Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder once sang, ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony and it’s true, they do. Especially, when, as was the case here, when combined with a touch of shiny, gilded gold. Something Mme Chanel knew very well. Anyway, this was a classic café society collection. A throwback to the days when ladies who lunched actually lunched, three martini style. Rich woven tweeds, embellished with gold braiding and plexiglass buttons gave a sense of thirties society doyenne, whereas what might appear to the naked eye to be a pedal pusher, with it’s buttoned cuff actually had an air of Little Lord Fauntleroy about them – a far more appropriate form of attire for such grand surroundings than something usually made of lycra. The idea of hotel as inspiration continued into the bags, sequinned clutch numbers, baring the words, “Please Do Not Disturb, or, depending on your mood, please dare to disturb, hang one on the door of your suite if you’re brave enough. Either way, this was another magical trip into Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel universe, where past, present and future collide just beautifully.
