CHANEL is the only show of Paris Fashion Week that absorbs you into its world before you have even reached a mile from the show venue.
Whether it’s a knock off pump on the metro, a person walking their dog where both the owner and the pet sporting head-to-toe Chanel, or the enthusiastic fans donning as much of the brand as possible, even if it is just a sock, in order to get noticed around the outskirts of security.
When you consider that all of the effort was for the first Chanel show that has not featured a creative director at the helm since 1983, the influence of the House becomes staggering. It does, however, help that a Chanel item withholds an identity coated in visual legacy that no other fashion house can or wishes to attain, and their SS25 collection echoed this notion under the expansive glass roof of the Grand Palais, which marked Chanel’s return to the venue since it closed for restoration four years ago.
In an ode to this reunion, the collection encompassed the gigantic aviary-esque space, steered by an adjacent desire to celebrate a new chapter of freedom for the House, and further cemented by Coco Chanel’s connection to birds, namely those given to her by her seamstress. The spreading of wings, unsurprisingly, became a recurring theme.
The momentous birdcage at the centre of the runway was the first nod to this; the feathers that framed an abundance of cropped jackets, hair clips and hemlines another; and the fluid trails of organza that revealed themselves in billowing proportions as each model turned underscored it further.
With its door swung open, the birdcage also served as a metaphor for Virginie Viard flying from the nest and the empty seat that she has left and is still yet to be filled.
SS25, as a result, was designed by the in-house creative studio, and was built as a visual reminder of the House’s long history. The proprietary tweeds were made playful with a wash of pastel, the skirted suits of Coco Chanel’s time adapted into shorts with thigh splits, and the accessorising, namely the black leather belt that cut through the light chiffon looks towards the close, modernised the Chanel model for the woman of today.
Backstage, where the likes of Margaret Qualley, Jennie Kim from Blackpink, and the new Chanel ambassador Lupita Nyong’o gathered to likely discuss who they thought deserved the position of Creative Director at the House – it is the hottest topic after all – a note for the models ahead of their catwalk entry read ‘remember to enjoy it’.
The translation to the runway was undeniable. How many models can say they walked through a Grand Palais height bird cage, in which Riley Keough at one point sung When Doves Cry by Prince to the audience as she glided through the sky on an levitating swing (in ode to the 1991 commercial starring Vanessa Paradis), whilst wearing ethereal clothing that swarms of people gathered outside would be devouring with the utmost respect and admiration?
The House of Chanel’s announcement of a new lead is waiting in the wings.
by Lily Rimmer