INTERLOCKING CC’s, tweed and camellias are all suggestions of one thing – Chanel. Picking the latter as inspiration for autumn-winter 2023, Virginie Viard decided to pay tribute to this floral motif, crafting a collection which saw it come to life in full bloom. “The camellia is more than a theme, it’s an eternal code of the House,” explains the designer. “I find it reassuring and familiar, I like its softness and its strength”.
Recognised as one of Chanel’s long-standing symbols ever since its first appearance in 1924, Viard took its characteristic duality with Coco’s admiration, and set out to inject a wonderland of florals for AW23. Staged in the Grand Palais Éphémère, which was covered in extravagantly sized sculptures of the flower, the collection was drenched in the motif, finding itself in the detailing of shoes, suspended within the design of tights and on top of tweed jackets, to holding onto the clasps of hairclips and swinging from the bottom of earrings.
While the camellia may have been at the root of the collection, Viard purposefully wanted each look to have a specific delicacy to it when in motion. Taking notes from Inez and Vinoodh’s film preview that featured a merry-go-round of wooden horses, the idea of Bermuda shorts and asymmetries entered the pool of looks.
Coats were cut asymmetrically, dresses featured slits and suits became shorter with flounces and revealing backs, while this want for motion was then added with pools of sequins, handfuls of beads and oodles of fantasy threads, all helping momentum to be built as the models pranced past.
Using only a refined palette comprised of monochrome tones and a touch of pink, classic femininity was truly what Viard stuck with for this Chanel collection. “The faded colours, the dusky pink, the crafted pieces, the touches of 1960s and 70s, a certain English vibe, the comfortable, enveloping coats, the authentic materials, make the collections more real, and more charming too”.
While many may stray away from the simplistic nature of clothing, Viard took it in her stride this season, creating a collection that made a simple flower the most elegant motif to adorn, and welcomed the beauty of London’s Swinging Sixties once again to the streets of Paris.
So while florals for winter may not be groundbreaking, they’re certainly very pretty to look at.
by Imogen ClarkÂ