(Paris) Chanel joined the ball of fashion creations inspired by dance and ballet, for its spring-summer 2024 haute couture show, with graceful women with a youthful look, dapper in pink and wearing wise bows in the hair.
“I tried to bring together the power and finesse of bodies and clothes in a very light collection, made of tulle, ruffles, pleats and lace,” says Virginie Viard, artistic director of Chanel, in the notes of the parade.
For its men’s collection, rival house Dior had presented the previous week in Paris an entire collection also inspired by ballet and its exiled Russian icon Rudolf Nureyev.
This aesthetic, called in English “balletcore”, with falsely demure looks, has largely established itself in 2023.
The Chanel house recalls that it is an old story for it, a century after Gabrielle Chanel’s first creations for the Saint Petersburg ballet.
The central piece, literally, of the show was the famous Chanel button, with the two crossed “cs”, here in a giant installation that descends from the ceiling in the room of the ephemeral Grand Palais in Paris.
PHOTO EMMANUEL DUNAND, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Under these almshouses, actress and model Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell, made the first appearance, in an all-white ensemble with a Pierrot collar.
Then opened a series of transparency, short straight skirts, jumpsuits, small capes adorned with draped embroidery, illusion tulle pockets enhanced with sequins, braids and small flowers.
The legs are dressed in sparkling white dancer’s tights, sometimes in transparent overtrousers, and the feet are not at all flat, but in fine black high heels.
The iconic tweed jacket, designed by Mademoiselle Chanel in the 1950s and inspired by Austrian men’s jackets, returns in a light watercolor of pink and cream, sewn with very colorful threads.
The French brand gave itself a little facelift by recruiting rapper Kendrick Lamar for a musical collaboration. There were also some street-wear additions in this precious show, such as an astonishing Chanel down jacket.
For the second day of Haute Couture week, which began on Monday with the spectacular Schiaparelli fashion show, the other highlight will be the presentation of the Armani couture collection at 7 p.m. at the Palais de Tokyo.