We all know by now that any show that is being put together but Karl Lagerfeld and those who work with Chanel is going to be a spectacle. Rumour has it Lagerfeld keeps a sketchbook at arms reach even when sleeping to document all ideas that spring to mind. The whole collection was born on nostalgia and Lagerfeld's memories of his childhood in the country in North Hamburg.
I’ve always loved autumn. This is a kind of Indian summer, with all the leaves. It’s a beautiful mood - Lagerfeld
For this show in particular we were taken into the woods as the Grand Palais is transformed into a magical, fairy tale like woodland. Some of the 80 something models were seen bundled up in heavy duty, almost ground sweeping long line coats, constructed with sparkly corduroy, quilting and a Chanel favourite, tweed. Although a lot of the silhouettes seen were clearly very masculine and harped back to the 80's with many exaggerated shoulders and collars, the coats were coupled with a range of different scarves; brightly coloured, contrasting in pattern and texture and we also witnessed the introduction headscarves.
The opening of the show was more casual and mildly understated than ever seen before from Chanel, but as the show really began to take of the collection progressed into accent gold metallic counterparts and finger less gloves, reflecting the autumnal palette seen throughout the entirety of the collection. Every single piece in the collection showed off Chanel's ability to really experiment with texture, colour and pattern as silhouettes became oversized, sparkly and more appropriate for evening wear. The burnt oranges and browns remained muted and autumnal with the occasional flash of colour in the form of ethereal leaf prints adding to the fairy-tale like woodland theme.
The overexposure of flesh was kept to a minimum (obviously what you want to see from an A/W collection). Legs were covered by glossy and iridescent tights and fingerless neon gloves were worn reaching the elbows when being paired with the classic little or ankle grazing black dress.
Much of the evening wear took form in delicate gossamer's of black lace both long sleeved and high necked with pretty little chained spaghetti straps. The appearance of the black evening dress in this collection is somewhat iconic after women joined forces in wearing black during award season for the #TimesUp campaign.
Of course there were a few famous faces on the runway including Lagerfeld's new favourite, daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber. Wearing a black knee length lace dress with a pair of fuchsia finger less gloves, Kaia proved to all spectators why she deserved to walk the show for Lagerfeld.
