“Humor” just isn’t a phrase usually related to Chanel, however maybe it ought to be. All through his 30-plus-year tenure on the French home, Karl Lagerfeld imbued his designs with loads of tongue-in-cheek takes on style. I imply, clear vinyl Chanel rain boots? A purse within the form of a milk carton, or a seaside ball? What else may these be, apart from nod-wink gestures on the varieties luxurious can take?
Virginie Viard, Lagerfeld’s protégé, has to date taken a barely extra buttoned-up method to design in her time as artistic director of Chanel—till the spring 2023 couture assortment, which debuted in Paris on Tuesday. Viard used Gabrielle Chanel’s condo at 31, rue Cambon as a jumping-off level for inspiration, which has been well-trod floor for each Viard and the home.
As a substitute of a extra critical and literal tackle the décor, although, Viard opted for a looser, extra enjoyable route—and consequently, Coco’s assortment of lions, stags, and camels discovered their approach throughout Viard’s designs. There have been corgi faces in sequin throughout tweed jackets and leaping bunnies embroidered on delicate sheer attire, together with Chanel’s traditional camellia crafted in layers of tulle, plus different fields of spring-ready florals dancing throughout maxi attire and embellished into swimsuit panels.
The styling of the gathering was a nod towards majorettes, these baton-twirling stars of parades: Suppose high hats, bow ties, and laced-up boots in gold or white with that well-known Chanel two-tone toe cap. Outerwear, whether or not a tweed coat or a satin cape, got here in exaggerated shapes that tented across the physique, and tweed shorts which ballooned out from the hip.
Artist collaborations, it appears, are significantly sizzling this couture season: For her half, Viard tapped French multimedia artist Xavier Veilhan to create the set, which he filled with a menagerie of wooden, cardboard, and paper animals. A few of these creatures held fashions inside, opening at simply the fitting second to disclose the following look hitting the runway—most spectacularly, when a big elephant was rolled out carrying Anna Ewers because the finale bride, her veil dotted with dozens of embroidered swallows.
“I prefer it when the marvelous bursts forth and the course of occasions is interrupted,” Viard stated within the present notes.
At its core, the Chanel spring 2023 high fashion assortment featured silhouettes which have change into signature to Viard’s time there—floor-sweeping coats, drop-waisted robes, exaggerated shoulder shapes. It was a breath of recent air to see the designer have a little bit enjoyable.
And somebody, someplace, is undoubtedly beside themselves with pleasure on the prospect of memorializing their beloved corgi in a bit of high fashion.