This is a sadness, as backstage and in the hand those details are simply miraculous tributes to the craft of the Chanel ateliers and the amazing artisans who create the jewel-like buttons, the handwoven tweeds, the embroideries, and the feathers and fabric flowers. This is not the moment for an intimate salon presentation of course, but the overwhelming space of the temporary structure that is standing in for the Grand Palais (while that building undergoes a dramatic renovation), meant that many of the details were lost at the socially enforced distance. Slithering satin evening dresses seemed to be suspended from necklaces and were draped to reveal the back, and tiny beaded gilets could be slipped on to amplify the glamour quotient. That ’20s and ’30s Gatsby mood that Viard discussed in the preview was made manifest in filmy chiffon and organza dresses with uneven hems (high in the front, low in the back), and trailing scarf panels that drifted from the shoulder-a Coco Chanel device of the period. Meanwhile there will be no need to remove layers against the heat in her pant suits-the trouser legs are split at the side from mid-calf to upper thigh. Viard’s new take on the summer tweed Chanel suit features a skirt that doesn’t quite wrap around and reveals a lace or jagged feather dress underneath. Sure enough, the jacket’s form was working as perfectly as Kuskus. “I like the classic Chanel,” added Veilhan, “and I like sport and it’s funny to think that the Chanel tailleur is something you can wear for playing golf, or riding a horse.” To prove his point, the show opened with Monaco’s Princess Charlotte, dressed in a Chanel jacket, riding the beautiful eight year old Spanish bay horse Kuskus (that would explain the sand runway), first in an elegant “collected walk,” then a canter.
“In fact, I found some notes from Karl in Rodchenko and Malevich books that he always gave me-so many books and documents with notes on details that could be used for embroidery and so on.
Me, I can’t do that! He loves Constructivism, that kind of thing which is so Karl!” she continued. “I love his work and I needed someone to work with for the sets-the way Karl did.
“I always wanted to work with him because he did something for Chanel jewelry 15 years ago in Place Vendome, a great installation,” Viard said. To set the scene, Viard reached out to the artist Xavier Veilhan whom she met at the home of their mutual friend, musician Sébastien Tellier. “I was inspired by the ’20s a little-the feathers, the fringe,” Viard continued, “the feminine side of the Constructivists, the girl inside!” “It’s a summer collection, so it’s very fresh, even with a lot of embroideries,” explained Chanel’s artistic director Virginie Viard during a fitting in the Chanel studios on the eve of the showing of her thistledown-light haute couture collection.
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