Paris Haute Couture Week was held behind closed doors, with Chanel as the (digital) star. Routine at the Grand Palais was almost restored.
Some traditions deserve to be upheld, and the Chanel fashion show under the glass dome of the Grand Palais, Tuesday of Paris’s Haute Couture week, is one of them. On 26 January 2021, there was no congestion blocking the Champs-Elysées, no crowds scrambling for front row seats, no photographers and no starlets. Naturally. In place of the usual clamour, Chanel provided a moment of pure grace for its Spring-Summer 2021 show. Virginie Viard, the brand’s creative director who took over from Karl Lagerfeld in 2019, has mastered the classics in order to better reinvent them. In the almost deserted space (in light of current events) under the legendary glass roof, the show took on a more intimate dimension, watched by ambassadors and friends of the House Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Vanessa Paradis, Caroline de Maigret, Alma Jodorowsky, Lily-Rose Depp, Izïa Higelin and Joana Preiss. A slow procession down the stairs to start, the reassuring sight of the Chanel signature looks, including the black/white association, the lace, the camellia and the tweed.
The black and white image fades to colour as the models gradually take their places on the empty chairs (highly symbolic!) placed a respectful distance apart. What better way to summarise the current period, which has replaced our habits and customs with a new day-to-day routine that may or may not be temporary.
The show ends with the magical arrival of a bride riding side-saddle on horseback, an allusion to the distant Camargue, as the heady take on Be my baby by Linda Ronstadt returns. What better word than breathtaking to describe the long wing-collar dress embroidered with butterflies!
Before taking over the Grand Palais for the shoot, photographer Anton Corbijn gathered the models and ambassadors in the salons on Rue Cambon for a series of Family Portraits.
Bravo Chanel. And thank you.
Pictures : Courtesy @Chanel
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