All Aboard! - Chanel Cruise 2020 Collection
The massive house of Chanel is now a double-legacy brand that carries the DNA of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, both fashion behemoths who between them shaped the way women wanted to look for a century and change. As one can imagine this is a huge event to partake on and an immense organization to steer, in her debut as creative director for Chanel; Virginie Viard made us travel through decades with the Cruise/ Resort 2020 collection.
The collection itself was presented in a catwalk were train tracks bordered the runway but, there was no train. Viard managed to transform the vast space of the Grand Palais into a train platform, the audience seated on old-fashioned benches, waiting expectantly, as models walk down this train station for giants.
Viard having had worked over 30 years alongside Lagerfeld; applied the lessons she learned, as it was evidenced in the show. Not only did she manage to get classic designs from Lagerfeld’s hard-edged geometry, Viard also, brought a new softness and ease to the Chanel silhouette, reflecting her woman’s perspective as well as an air of inspiration we saw in Coco Chanel’s original designs.
This collection had to cover a lot of ground, as Chanel doesn’t only attract one demographic, as the audience reflected, it captures respect and admiration globally and its reach is pan-generational.
It’s a huge challenge to be all things to all people and remain coherent, and as Viard presented, we saw groupings of designs and styles; some, of cool Parisienne girl featuring, wide pants cropped about the ankle, frothing blouses—followed by shapely Starburst-color tweed jackets worn over leggings (printed with interlocked Cs and other house emblems), and then by kawaii miniskirted classic Chanel skirtsuits in white toweling tweed (worn with adorable matching ballerina slippers with patent toes) and then by pretty, tiered chiffon or lace dresses that evoked Coco Chanel’s late 1930s gitane looks. (Most of these examples of clothing are featured within this post.)
There were images of Lagerfeld’s friend, the fashion-plate Princess Caroline of Monaco in her 1980s jet-set years on Viard’s inspiration board for the collection, and there was something of the flavor of that period in the bat-wing sweaters and Memphis Group pastel color-blocking that looked cool on reworked Chanel purses. A sharp scarlet or white-toed black ankle-strap shoe with a chunky cone statement heel also gave a vintage yet hip styling edge to many of the looks.
There were images of Lagerfeld’s friend, the fashion-plate Princess Caroline of Monaco in her 1980s jet-set years on Viard’s inspiration board for the collection, and there was something of the flavor of that period in the bat-wing sweaters and Memphis Group pastel color-blocking that looked cool on reworked Chanel purses. A sharp scarlet or white-toed black ankle-strap shoe with a chunky cone statement heel also gave a vintage yet hip styling edge to many of the looks.
Just as the respectful opening look had suggested the way the liberated young Chanel herself might have dressed in 2020—easy black jacket with wide-leg pants cut short enough not to impede a woman on a mission, and a soft but unfussy white blouse—so the final look paid homage to Lagerfeld himself in a halter dress suspended from a stiff Edwardian collar in his trademark black and white, taking us through a voyage much like the setting she created for the audience to experience.
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