March 6, 2024 |
Virginie Viard at Chanel, took us to Deauville, the seaside resort town where Coco opened her first shop in 1912. But as an amuse bouche, she treated us to a new cinematic pairing Penelope Cruz and Brad Pitt (as a new Chanel love interest) who played out a flirtatious encounter (with excellent chemistry), projected onto a vast central cyclorama. With love in the air, the scene was set for a show that thrilled with easy, sensual looks, designed for the kind of nonchalant-but-notice-me effect that Viard specialises in.
All roads lead to Coco who started as a milliner, so Viard opened the show with long, tweed coats worn with large straw picture hats in pastel shades and platform boots. The silhouettes landed somewhere between the lean elegance of the 1930s and the glam decadence of the 1970s with lurex laced tweed adding a subtle sparkle. Statement making. Stylish. Effortless.
Models walked against the cyclorama, of scenes from the Deauville beach and boardwalk, where Coco would engineer her first unofficial fashion shows, with family and friends wearing her designs to drum up business. The looks leaned-in to the casual: knitted pyjama suits, chunky cable knits, ombre sunset tweeds, layered-up slouchy denim work wear, leather jump suits, baker boy caps and even a quilted denim puffer. The designer gave a masterclass in effortless-but-unmissable dressing, showing the kind of clothes that have a confident ease but will make you the best dressed woman in the room.
For evening the lightness and ease continued, with fluttering chiffon gowns printed with film reels and cinema tickets, and silky slips layered over delicate knit. Pretty as a picture.
Photography courtesy of Chanel.
