Chanel Couture: Fall 2015

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Cha, Ching!! Following last season’s mechanical flower garden, yesterday the Grand Palais transformed into an Art Deco revived Casino à la Chanel. The kind where a gentleman in a crisp suit and his lady, strung with pearls, would arrive in style by Rolls Royce Casino de Monte-Carlo and would bump into F. Scott and Zelda, on their way to the gambling table champagne in hand. But that was yesteryear… Today the Cercle Privé was attended by the likes of Kristen Stewart, Lara Stone, Julian Moore, Rita Ora and Hollywood offspring such as Lily- Rose Depp (the current face of Chanel Eye wear). The celebrities wore Chanel Haute Joaillerie and custom made gowns, playing their parts exquisitely rolling the dice and setting their bets: all under the nose of editors, buyers, and bloggers.

While the setting may have reminded us of a old pre-world war glamor, Karl Lagerfeld turned this nostalgic setting ironically into the scene of a technological fashion breakthrough. Sci-fi futuristic methods are no longer visions for the future. The game of Haute Couture has been forever altered by a cutting edge technique (literally) called “laser sintering”.

Not familiar with the concept? Laser sintering is responsible for removing the seams from the iconic tailoring. The show featured work of chiffon laser cut ribbons and 3D printing - both techniques setting a mechanical pace of the show. While last season’s show was romantic, dreamy, and full of Parisian prettiness, the Cercle Privé collection felt calculated, geometric, obviously technologically advanced, in other words very Germanic- an ode to Lagerfeld’s roots.

The Chanel aesthetic of course satisfied us all with its clean tailoring here equating to angular shaping with a soft fit,  as seen on coats and jackets, some equipped with military epaulettes to sharpen the shoulders or as seen as the final bridal look in all white. Then there were those careful details of black and silver sequins or meadows of tiny flowers and feathers balancing a rather strict collection with a breeze of softness - once again impeccable work of les petite mains.

Overall, I would say the show was in one word: eery. No! Don’t misunderstand- I don't disagree the collection was not breathtakingly beautiful and I would bet my money that it will be a commercial success- but in the air lingered the unknown, something alien, and something unsettling. The models looked like robots, very Ex-Machina, with angular black wigs, blood red lips and a sharp streak of magenta blush - very non- human- and I couldn't help but ask myself: is it not a tragedy that we have entered a period where robots and machines are beginning to replace the delicate, human handwork which defined the art of ancient couture? Or is this an inevitable evolution transporting the jacket of the 20th century into the 21st?

The last word deservedly comes from Karl who is relentless in never looking back: ”When you fight against the future, you are lost. You have to adapt. Time doesn't adapt to us. I'm a healthy opportunist for that.”

Images courtesy of Chanel

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