May 15, 2015 |
“It’s a cosmopolitan idea of the local fashion,” said Karl Lagerfeld, on his cruise 2016 collection for Chanel, which he presented yesterday. It was indeed cosmopolitan. And it’s location was too. That’s right, Karl took Chanel to Korea, taking Papa Miles, with him – if you didn’t know already from your Instagram feed. A fitting location – the country has 15 Chanel boutiques. The venue, which, according to Tim Blanks, had 12 women dressed in Gisele Bundchen’s look from the spring/summer 2015 show, was quite something. From above, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza – designed by Zaha Hadid – looks like a blob of molten lead. Inside, the floor had been decorated with dots – the type you find on a Twister mat. Sat on the front row was Gisele Bundchen (who wasn’t wearing her look from the SS15 show like her 12 doppelgangers), Kristen Stewart and Tilda Swinton, along with K-pop stars G-Dragon, Krystal and Taeyang. The collection’s reference to K-pop is probably a good place to start, for it looked like the love child of the fashion house and musical genre. A mash-up, if you will. For it bore Chanel’s house codes – including the tweed jacket, obviously – with a strong dose of K-pop energy. But it wasn’t only contemporary Korean style that was referenced. “The styling was really Korean,” K-pop star Yoona Im told WWD, “They mixed a lot of elements of traditional Korean style with Chanel’s own identity.” Some references were more literal – one tweed number had the Korean characters for “Chanel” woven into it. As for beauty, the models wore brigs (braided wigs) in their hair, some of which looked like Minnie Mouse ears, dots under their eyes, like Padme Amidala and single lines above and below their eyebrows. But what struck me most about the show is what always strikes me about Chanel shows. Not the spectacular venues, not the star-studded front rows, not Karl’s interpretation of different cultures, not even the hair and beauty – though all are, it goes without saying, amazing – it’s the craftsmanship. If you read the Business of Fashion’s article ‘Chanel, the Saviour of Savoir-Faire’ recently, you’ll know what I mean. By buying and bolstering traditional maisons – from milliners to shoemakers – the house has cemented its position as the kings (and queens) of craftsmanship. You could see this in the wafer-thin chiffons, sometimes layered like a bird’s feathers, in the intricate embellishments and embroidery, in the necklaces and bracelets that adorned the models necks and wrists and in those, much-loved, much-bought quilted bags. This procession of luxury goods ended with Karl, King Karl, Hudson Kroenig and Soo-Joo Park at his side and an Apple watch on his wrist. Again, he’s reimagined Chanel’s house codes, referenced another culture and reflected the zeitgeist – all with great aplomb. Hats, or brigs if you’ve got one, off to him.
