Season after season, presenting a collection is becoming more and more tricky for a fashion designer. Most of us have by now proved we do have the attention span of a goldfish and easily forget about what we may have seen less than six months ago on a runway, so that the pressure to create a visually sensational and unforgettable experience is becoming stronger for many houses. Enter Karl Lagerfeld: so far he has recreated a shopping mall, a fake feminist protest and luscious paper gardens in Paris' Grand Palais for his Chanel shows.
Yesterday Lagerfeld turned the place into a casino characterised by a sort of decadent '80s aura. The celebrity gamblers - Julianne Moore, Geraldine Chaplin, Vanessa Paradis, Stella Tennant, Alice Dellal, Lara Stone, Kristen Stewart, and Rita Ora among the others - sitting at the roulette and blackjack tables and at the slot machines emblazoned with the double Cs and with emblematic names (Silver Camelias, Trente et Un Rue Cambon, Lucky Shine, Chance Circle...) installed under the Art Deco ceiling, were all wearing couture pieces especially designed for them and precious jewellery (diamond stars, comets and bows...), re-issued versions of the 1932 "Bijoux de Diamants" pieces created by Coco Chanel.
This was just one part of the collection, though, as Chanel's Haute Couture designs were displayed by clone-like models in bob-haired wigs that gave their heads a rather hideously looking egg-shape.
The android look and the texture of some of the garments evoked sci-fi characters à la Ava out of Alex Garland's dystopian sci-fi film Ex Machina (View this photo) and maybe this was an intentional reference to point at the technology behind the collection. Lagerfeld turned indeed to 3D laser sintering to create computer-manipulated seamless classic Chanel jackets, trying to combine in the same collection artisanal techniques and cutting edge technologies.
Broad and wide-shouldered, box-shaped, cropped or hip-length jackets with epaulettes in military style instead of shoulder pads and ample sleeves called to mind the '80s (while the winged shoes were a strange hybrid that combined the '30s and the '80s together).
The choice was wide - though definitely not innovative (but you can bet it will sell for millions with more traditional clients who may not be able to grasp Simons's conceptual thoughts and silhouettes at Dior...) - when it came to cocktail and evening dresses and included sequinned tunics, feathered designs and dresses covered in delicate tiered ruffles, intricate beaded embroideries, sculpted beaded structures, or fluffy powder-pink camellias. Kendall Jenner appeared as the final bride in a white military pant suit with a tulle train that erupted from the back of her jacket.
In a way this was a game of contrasts between classic and technological (though it would be incredibly interesting to discover more about the techniques involved in this collection...what about a video telling us more about them?), a will to preserve the past, but also an obsession with the future.
Lagerfeld said he doesn't like gambling with money, but he does so with his collections: yet, even in their technological advanced versions (and anyway it's worth remembering that this is not the first time laser sintering appeared on a runway as Iris van Herpen did it first...), the designs included in the collection were extremely predictable in their silhouettes, shapes and embellishments.
In many ways the only interesting thing about this collection was the gambling concept. At Dior we saw a Garden of Eden metaphor that could be applied to the fashion industry; here gambling could be seen as a metaphor for the luxury world.
Every season luxury fashion groups play and gamble with more and more money, paying to have the perfect actor/actress/controversial celebrity sitting in the front row, and the most condescending blogger twittering about them, competing to produce the most sensational set and the best, craziest and most memorable experience that will guarantee multiple posts on Instagram while selling to us, ordinary pariahs, fragrances and lipsticks.
As they gamble, we sit and watch just like the catwalk show audiences watching the celebrities playing yesterday at Chanel's casino, artificially making them (and us) believe that it is oh so trendier being locked in the Haute Couture bubble than facing reality.
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