Chanel’s spring/summer 2014 collection at Paris Fashion Week took an artistic twist on the classic pearls, tweed, and quilted fabrics that have consistently been the fashion brand’s crest. Turning the Grand Palais into an actual art gallery, Karl Lagerfield took us on a kaleidoscopic journey of frayed tweed in ultramarine and palatinate blues, boldly embroidered boucle jackets, thick stitched tweeds, and silk half shoulder dresses inspired by painter’s palettes.
The theme spoke to futuristic takes on classic and youthful looks, including a graffiti of the CC logo on backpacks, charm bracelets, and airbrushed handbags. No doubt drawing influence from contemporary and street art, Karl Lagerfield raised the intersections of art and fashion to an entirely different dimension.
The show itself was a curatorial feat, combining runway glamour and gallery rationality to develop an environment of elegance and inventiveness. Lagerfield utilized the space to create a visual history by means of installations and canvas work that resonate with noteworthy happenings in the fashion house’s archives, including a colossal No. 5 perfume bottle and painted renditions of the CC logo.
Working with over 150 tonal shades for the spring/summer line, Lagerfield reminded us of the brilliance in color, the boldness of femininity, and how playfulness can maintain sophistication through metallic and quilted handbags, light-hearted accessories, and slouched socks paired with two-tone court shoes, preserving the zeitgeist of Chanel’s graces while always moving towards the next and new.
