Sophisticated, luxurious, theatrical, the collection was presented in the hallways surrounding the concert hall, dressed in red velvet for the occasion. / Alain Jocard / AFP
Photo: AFP – ALAIN JOCARD
The Chanel house presented this Tuesday at the Opera Garnier in Paris a haute couture collection prepared by its workshops after the abrupt departure of its artistic director, Virginie Viard, former right-hand woman of Karl Lagerfeld.
Sophisticated, luxurious, theatrical, the collection was presented in the hallways surrounding the concert hall, dressed in red velvet for the occasion.
A medieval cape, an evening dress with cupped sleeves that gather at the cuff, a bullfighter’s suit with a white bib and a velvet tuxedo distinguished themselves in this parade that did not forget the house’s classic tweeds, available in burgundy red and luminous black.
The “Lagerfeldian” touch was the vinyl, in this show in which the models wore a large bow in their hair.
There were no salutes at the end or parade notes. The collection was made by 150 artisans installed in the workshops on Cambon Street, Chanel said in a statement.
The crisis had been brewing for months: the sceptical expressions in the front row at every Virginie Viard show had become recurrent.
The crisis exploded on May 2, after Chanel’s cruise show in Marseille, criticized for its cutness and a certain lack of audacity.
The announcement of her departure, in the middle of the night, was made outside the codes of the house founded by Gabrielle Chanel in 1910.
Faced with the violence of the criticism against the artistic director, whose departure was received with relief in the microcosm of fashion, the creator Lutz Huelle denounced “pure cruelty.”
“I can’t imagine Karl working with anyone for all those years without that person being able to do an excellent job,” he told AFP.
During these five years, sales of the house, mostly owned by the Wertheimer family, reached record levels, almost $20 billion in 2023, an “exceptional new year” according to the brand.
Since Viard took over, sales had increased by 23% in the ready-to-wear sector.
But replacing the extravagant personality of the “Kaiser” Lagersfeld ended up proving not to be easy for a discreet designer, whose position was provisional.
– Like a champagne bubble –
Discretion, however, was not the proposal of the Frenchman Alexis Mabille, who is part of a generation, along with Stéphane Rolland or Julien Fournié, accustomed to delighting with sophisticated shows.
Mabille invited his fans to have a good time and drink a glass of champagne in the Lido 2 performance hall.
And as a final flourish, the queen of burlesque, the dancer and actress Dita Von Teese, emerging from the ground inside a large glass of champagne.
“The idea was to have a good time, have fun, forget for a few moments everything that is happening around us,” Mabille explained to AFP after the show.
“The collection is called champagne because the goal is brilliance, mixing colors, personalities, like at a party,” he added.
Mabille proposes a classic gala wardrobe, with an abundance of sequins, gold and silver. Asymmetrical cuts on the hips, languid layers. Always matching shoes, makeup and accessories.
The models walk around with a glass of champagne at the end of a string, shaped like a bag.
Nothing out of place in these outfits that are intended for an unconditional clientele.
In the audience, actor Jean-Christophe Bouvet, who plays the tormented couturier Pierre Cadault in the Netflix television series “Emily in Paris.”
“I’ve already seen about fifty shows in three years,” the actor explains to AFP.
“For me, fashion is one-third classic, one-third modern and one-third pure creation,” he explained.
Attending those types of shows “inspires me a lot” for his work on the series, he added.
