October 19, 2015 |
As Karl Lagerfeld’s models, clad in bubbly, geodesic mesh renditions of the hyper-traditional Chanel suit, began to ricochet around the set of his latest haute couture show – part Monegasque gaming palace, part tongue-in-cheek Mecca bingo hall – like roulette balls spun by an overly enthused croupier, I got to thinking.
I got to thinking, first of all, about how many gambling references I could stuff, like coins into a slot machine, into a single paragraph.
Then I got to thinking about what a gamble Chanel was taking this season. A gamble that, undoubtedly, paid off. Those Chanel suits were prime examples – they are created not from tulle, or embroidery, or any of the usual couture fayre. They’re not even sewn by the human hand. Rather, they were created via selective laser sintering, literally blasted together from powdery debris. The process is normally used for rapid prototyping, for low-volume production of component parts. The former holds no truck with haute couture, but the latter made me smile. Couture, after all, is about nothing if not low-volume production.
The difference between Chanel and so many other couture houses? That they can look simultaneously backwards and forwards. Dynamic is the word that struck me, not just in those three-dimensionally rendered pièce de résistance suits – which, for luxury lovers, were lavishly braided with embroidery, laser age meeting Lesage. Dynamism coursed through the whole offering, from the razor-sliced hair by Sam McKnight, to the shredded chiffon evening dresses with a 1920s flair.
The 1920s were the first time when women really wanted to look modern. They tried to dress like art deco skyscrapers. That was when Gabrielle Chanel made her name, by offering a vision of a brave new world, condensed into couture form.
Today, Karl Lagerfeld does the same. He’s a sure thing. And that’s why the house always wins.
Text by Alexander Fury, taken from Issue 55 of 10 Magazine, on newsstands now
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
