(Paris) In an open-air haute couture show on Tuesday in Paris, with her dog or a basket full of flowers, the Chanel woman strolls along the banks of the Seine, combining nonchalance and elegance.
Caroline de Maigret, ambassador of the Chanel house, opened the parade in a long navy blue coat.
Dressed in a long strapless organza dress adorned with black velvet camellias, Vanessa Paradis, another house muse, was featured in the film of the collection which will be unveiled on Tuesday afternoon and of which the house has published an excerpt on line.
The cobblestones painted in several shades of pink, at the bottom of the Bateaux-Mouches pier with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, served as a podium for this parade by the water’s edge. This season, the Seine fascinates designers more than ever: Louis Vuitton, Kenzo and Alaïa presented their collections on Parisian bridges.
“If we are in Paris, this time we are in Paris itself, on the quays. The street and the colorful cobblestones call for both sophistication and simplicity,” says Virginie Viard, artistic director of Chanel, in the show notes.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHE ENA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
True to the tradition of closing the haute couture show with a wedding dress, Chanel’s artistic director Virginie Viard imagined it this season as flowing, mid-length with transparent sleeves, easy to wear.
The collection plays on contrasts: the Parisiennes, in wise tweed suits with skirts below the knee and coats, stroll next to those, more bohemian, wearing loose blouses and headband scarves…
The stylist mixes tweeds, silk muslins, organzas and encrusted lace with floral and graphic motifs. A few bright colors, like Barbie pink, stand out in the middle of the monochrome gray landscape.
“To play with oppositions and contrasts, nonchalance and elegance, is to stand on a line between strength and softness that, at Chanel, we call the allure”, underlines Virginie Viard.
The dresses are transparent, with full skirts.
Faithful to the tradition of closing the haute couture show with a wedding dress, Virginie Viard imagined it this season as flowing, mid-length with transparent sleeves, easy to wear.
Masculine-inspired overcoats, light belted blouses, tank tops, tennis-striped pants: if haute couture is more often associated with dresses, we find in this collection, as in others, presented since Monday, pieces from the daily wardrobe.
Sign that haute couture does not only have its place on the red carpet.