Around the mythical staircase of the rue Cambon, the entire grammar of the double-C house has – once again – been magnified. As its star the little black coat, tweed suit and the N°5. in a sautoir version.
Since Chanel has started to preserve the French savoir-faire that is nearly disappearing, the group is lucky to have some of the most skilled and beautiful artisans of the hexagon. Lesage, Massaro, Maison Michel…they have contributed to a collection unique in its type since it only belongs to Chanel. The Métiers d’Art 2020 collection has been for Virginie Viard an occasion to orchestrate her magnified vision of the Chanel icons. The result?
A plethora of silhouettes just as suave as they are desirable, passing around the mythical staircase of rue Cambon specially reproduced with the participation of Sofia Coppola. This staircase resonates today as a starting point for the Chanel collections by Virginie Viard: “I think first of the staircase: I imagine a girl walking down. With what dress? Which shoes?” But it is the first Métiers d’Art collection post-Lagerfeld, it is still the nave of the Grand Palais that holds the event. Hence, on the podium the eminently precious craft of French luxury marries with elation the codes of Chanel.
The iconic tweed suit finds a new equilibrium around a lower waist than usual. While the little coat reduces itself into more graphic lines. The camélia, thanks to the genius Lesage and Lemarié finds itself sculpted onto evening bombers, where it is printed on aerial feathers. Better yet, the legendary bi-colour slippers imagined by Massaro in 1957 for Chanel are here ornate with little knots of gold leather. “The Métiers d’art bring me their savoir-faire. They sublimate our creations” clarifies Virginie Viard. And it is true that this collection has something more essential; like a desire to let the talent of the artisans coming from the thirty-three maisons that make up the Métiers d’art speak for themselves. “There is a form of simplicity by coming back to the the ABC’s of Chanel. There is no need to go overboard” explains the current artistic director of the house.
In the end a very Parisian conception of allure – this spark of madness that we recognise with a bird cage … a frank and efficient wink at advertisement that is nonetheless iconic imagined by Jean-Paul Goude. Vanessa Paradis as a Chanel bird. And even, the N°5 inspired by the shape of the Place Vendôme, robbed of its size, this time as a sautoir. The spirit of Chanel, magnificently.