Waste Not: Chanel Haute Couture S/S 2016

"Eco-friendly" has been the key word in the architectural field for quite a few years now. Recent developments by modern firms included sustainable projects such as the buckle-shaped eco-school complex "Groupe Scolaire Paulette Deblock" in Sin le Noble, in north-eastern France designed by Lille-based Zigzag Architecture.

All the sustainable regulations required for the structure – connecting two schools and offering educational facilities to two different districts – were turned in this case into design features.

While at the moment the building appears isolated and geometrically rigid, thanks to sunlight and rain water control, over time the planted roof will be covered in layers of flora and fauna that, spreading from the green roof down to ground level will camouflage the structure and connect it to the adjacent urban park currently under construction.

Sustainability has also been a popular word in the fashion industry and Karl Lagerfeld attempted to incorporate a sort of eco-friendly architectural inspiration in his Haute Couture S/S 2016 collection for Chanel (was he inspired by the climate change conference held in Paris late last year?).

High fashion is an elitist business, yet in this case the backdrop for the runway show was slightly less elitist than the casino set for the previous Haute Couture collection.

You could argue that the huge Japanese-style wooden structure built inside the Grand Palais still looked like a modernist villa or maybe a luxurious spa complete with lush green lawn, a lily pond and blue skies, but at least it spread peace and was infused with a sense of serenity, contemplation and the possibility of hope.

Models emerged from the central wooden structure and walked along inlaid wood paths through the grass. The designs featured in the collection went well with the set: they came in a natural palette comprising cream and beige tones evoking straw, hessian and sand, interspersed with soft greens, dove greys and navy blues.

The silhouette was a key point: long and lean mid-calf pencil skirts were matched with cropped tween jackets with rounded or oval sleeves alternated with dropped waist dresses or long gowns that replicated in fabric motifs borrowed from architecture.

Embellishments and decorations were also inspired by nature: raffia was one of the materials of choice, together with wooden beads and mother of pearl; fragments of shaved wood were woven into the fabric while wood scallops formed the hem of an underskirt and wooden tiles turned into mosaic tesserae on a long vest matched with a silver satin blouse and tweed skirt.

Crystal sprinkled jackets evoked the shade of sweet honey (honey and bees also appeared on Schiaparelli's runway), a theme replicated in the pleated or geometrical motifs that called to mind the structure of honeycombs and in the dresses decorated with brooches of bees.

The neutral trend was broken by two dresses in colourful blooms and by the feathery buttlerflies and embroidered bees scattered on a black dress and one the puffed up sleeves of a blouse.

Transparent and silvery capes covered in twinkling stones also made an appearance: matched with pantsuits densely covered in wooden beads they called to mind interior design pieces such as the Campana Brother's Fungo chandelier that plays with the juxtaposition between wood and glass. Even the tufted and hooded wedding dress with a train that closed the show featured wood shavings and beads.

All the looks were matched with two tone cork wedges chacterised by an architectural curved heel and a smartphone pouch bag hanging from a belt (well, you could use it also as a seed bag maybe to be more eco-friendly?), while brooches of dragonflies, bees, and other bugs, evoked the insect world.

Design-wise the collection was very classic, but it was the way the materials were used by the Chanel Métiers d'Art artisans that proved intriguing (apart from wood there was also recycled paper in some of these pieces) and that catapulted the collection into a realm suspended between interior design and architecture. Just like Zigzag Architecture turned the sustainable regulations required for their building into design features, Lagerfeld reintegrated natural materials into intricate couture details.

For the finale all the windows of the wooden building were opened to reveal the models and the designer and to maybe allow the audience to ponder a bit about this collection as a whole.

It is difficult indeed to deny that this was a non-environmental collection since all the garments included are made by hand, they are produced in a very limited edition and will potentially last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, though, the finale also made you think about a very important dicohotmy – nature and the artificial world of fashion. The garments included, donned by models in perfectly sculpted hair-dos, may be eco-friendly, the set will be recycled, but surely the spectacle was put together without saving any energy, not to mention the fact that these garments are made to be sold to very unique clients, among them extremely wealthy people who often manage businesses that do not respect the planet and who probably get a private jet just to go to the fitting for the Haute Couture dress they have ordered (and well, Lagerfeld himself mainly moves with a private plane…).

So rather than being a convincing stand for couture eco-consciousness, this was a bucolically hypocritical celebration of nature, but maybe those ones who can afford these designs, apart from finally being able to proclaim they have gone down the eco-friendly path, will feel less guilty about the damages we have collectively done to our planet.