Chanel – Timelessly elegant fashion in the name of female emancipation

Today’s fashion giant was brought to life in 1913 by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. At the age of 30, the Frenchwoman, who was born from a poor background, opened her first Chanel boutique in Deauville, France. Her wide dresses and rather comfortable cuts met with both rejection and applause at first. Her simple yet elegant designs were untypical of the 1910s fashion. The famous ‘Little Black’ later helped the style icon to international success. Since its breakthrough, the brand has also been celebrated for its quilted leather handbags with quilted seams and metal link chains. The Chanel No. 5 perfume is also one of the absolute must-haves for every Chanel fan.

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Glamorous and bold fashion for winter

The winter outfits always have leather boots with high heels despite wind and weather. Likewise, the elaborate hairstyles are dispensed with in winter. In contrast to the hairstyles in summer, here the hair is tied together only to a simple braid or simply combed open back.

Elegant dresses and classic accessories

For Virginie Viard, the mirror staircase is the starting point for every collection. Over the past 30 years, explains Chanel, it has always been Virginie Viard who has worked closely with the Métiers d’Art Ateliers, researching and experimenting with them. She opens her first Métiers d’Art collection as successor to Karl Lagerfeld with black coats made of soft cashmere bouclé, decorated with chiffon ribbons embroidered with gold-coloured pearls and sequins.

Autumnal collection with cool tones and casual cuts

In the style of the 1968 film “The Does” by French director Claude Chabrol, female models walked together across the catwalk and chatted like confidants at first glance. The models wore stylish black leather boots in a retro look, with a bell-shaped brandy collar in the middle of the calf, which became the leitmotif of the collection.

Exciting and innovative outfits in a quiet environment

For her haute couture debut, Virginie Viard chose the backdrop of a library. The library was inspired by the library in Gabrielle Chanel’s daytime apartment on Rue Cambon (the legendary designer slept in the Ritz next door) with its chic bindings in gorgeous chestnut colours and by Galignani, the legendary bookshop on Rue de Rivoli, which counted bibliophile Karl Lagerfeld among its most important customers.

Emotional show in memory of Karl Lagerfeld

In a gloomy yet cheerful show, in which airiness and substance, shrugging elegance and unbridled joy were captured, the farewell to the tremendous talent of Karl Lagerfeld was framed just as he had imagined. He led us on a beautiful day to a place high in the mountains. It was a snow-covered refuge – a piece of the Chanel sky, seen from a distance that was touchingly difficult to bear.

Delicate dresses and stylish hairstyles for the summer

One thing is particularly striking in the summer collections. The collections for the warmer seasons usually include dresses rather than trousers or skirts. As described above, the models’ hair is often more elaborately draped, gelled or sprayed in summer.

Unique prêt-à-porter on the roofs of Paris

Up on the roof chez Chanel, a procession of long-legged girls on flat heels, appearing in tweed playsuits, tiny silk trousers, garçonne dresses and small bell-shaped skirts. Where Lagerfeld may have worn funny pun accessories, it was Richard’s instinct to undress and emphasize the essence of the silhouette and tweed Chanel textures in a related context – who could dare to imitate his wit, after all?

Haute couture collection of contrasts: Moral & Sensual at the same time

Virginie Viard’s haute couture presentation Chanel saw us in the romantic garden of a monastery, miraculously located in the cold immensity of the Paris Grand Palais. In imaginative retellings of her autobiography, Chanel described the strict and unforgiving nuns of the convent as “aunts”. Nevertheless, these teachers taught the young Chanel how to sew and thus gave her the tools to build a life as an independent woman in later years.

Exclusive fashion show with breathtaking scenery

The collection was presented downstairs in the large, up-and-coming room of the Grand Palais. Although there were train tracks here, there was no train, because who could outshine the steaming trains of John Galliano’s sensational haute couture show for Christian Dior in autumn 1998. Instead, Viard transformed the vast space of the Grand Palais into a train platform, the audience sits expectantly on old-fashioned benches, and the building’s existing Art Nouveau architecture is successfuly reminiscent of a station for giants from the turn of the century.

Chanel’s first swimsuit makes its debut in a royal garden

Outside the Grand Palais at sub-zero temperatures in Paris it may have snowed, but inside Karl Lagerfeld took us to a sunburned Italian villa where terracotta oleander urns flanked an inviting pool and cypress and palm trees shaded sandy paths, stone balustrades and a curved staircase.

The ‘Making of’ Chanel – From studio to catwalk

Especially Chanel is known to take his audience behind the scenes on YouTube. No matter if it’s preparations for the Fashion Week, the hectic rush in the backstage area just before the show starts or the making of the latest collections. There are also image films created by Karl Lagerfeld or films that tell the story of Coco or Chanel. With elaborate and emotional stylistic devices, short videos in blockbuster quality are created here.

Creative design process with finest handcraft

Virginie Viard’s Autumn-Winter 2019/20 collection shows the ever renewed creativity and unique savoir-faire of Chanel’s haute couture studios and métiers d’art. See how the house of Chanel and its seamstresses make the handmade garments.

Hectic in the last minutes before the show

From backstage to show, a closer look at the ready-to-wear looks and accessories for spring and summer 2020.