May 6, 2013 |
There was a wind farm at the Chanel show. And solar panels. The runway was made of solar panels. Models walked along solar panels and under wind turbines. According to Karl, the reason for that is “the wind and the sun are free”. “Which sadly did not translate as ‘the collection is free’,” Jacqui thought to herself. She tried to explain to the security man that it was all just a big misunderstanding. She hadn’t been trying to steal the bouclé tweed jacket and an armful of cuffs. That wasn’t the reason she was stuffing them into the oversized quilted Hula Hoop and trying to see if it could double as an actual Hula Hoop. But he was having none of it. “But Karl said!” she wailed as she was marched off the premises in a rather forceful manner. Even as a little girl the only thing she had wanted to be was a Chanel princess. She spent her nights dreaming of things that were quilted and adorned with gold chains that glinted in the sunlight. Karl’s latest collection spoke to her in a way that the assembled fashion press could not understand. They would talk of energy and futuristic fabrications. Draw parallels between the solar panels and wind farms and the modern fabrics. Three-dimensional materials, layers that were printed, embroidered with cascading flowers on beaded sheaths, hems strewn with tufts of multicoloured strips of chiffon that, from afar, gave the illusion of marabou and a hint of boudoir, so delicate and light. Or fine wools, woven to create the most divine waffle-type knit and shaped like a pink cocoon. Pink the colour of a shrimp cocktail. The cocoon looked so warm and safe it was all Jacqui could do to stop herself snatching it off the model and declaring it her safe place. So much chicer than a blanky, she had thought. The fabrics had depth. The clothes were classic Chanel, but the fabrics so rich and textured you could lose yourself in them. She was particularly keen on the Lucite-brimmed boaters, which, she imagined, would cast a pretty pastel hue over the face when the sun shone. Very flattering. Of course, everyone would consider it a triumph and declare Karl the most forward thinking of designers. How, with one immaculately cut and bonded jacket, cropped under the breast to reveal a slim torso, and with sleeves that ended on the elbow, he had totally turned the concept of the jacket on its head, thus injecting a new, youthful energy into the idea of the jacket, just as wind turbines and solar panels could be said to be injecting a new, youthful energy into the energy world. Much more stylish than oil. Or gas. And yet Jacqui couldn’t help thinking that the only thing that could ever add youth to fashion, imbue it with youth, was youth itself. “I’m young,” she thought. “I have energy. I’m the living embodiment of Chanel. All I need now is some Chanel. Just a jacket would do. So that people bow down in awe of my youth and energy. Bow down in awe of my Chanel.”
by Natalie Dembinska
