Chanel caps Paris Fashion Week

PARIS — Chanel brought Paris Fashion Week to its final day with a runway show that illustrated how designers and the people they dress want to look to the future with optimism.

It is said that fashion is a mirror of our times – and the spring-summer collections shown here were sexy, vibrant and joyful despite, or perhaps because of, the coronavirus pandemic.

The runway show was staged before a pared-down audience on Tuesday in an annex by the Eiffel Tower, but the location had nothing to do with the pandemic. The normal venue, the Grand Palais, is being renovated for the Paris 2024

Olympics.

American actress Kristen Stewart rocked up late to the Parisian stalwart’s show wearing a pink Chanel skirt suit. French-American model-actress LilyRose Depp also showed up for Chanel.

Appropriately enough for a paparazzi-themed show, a group of frenzied minders rushed Stewart in late to take her seat. Guests had to look twice to see who the tardy invitee was because the Twilight star looked almost unrecognisable. The actress, a Chanel ambassador, sported a chic blond beehive for her latest role as Princess Diana in Spencer, which was partly filmed in Paris and set for a November release.

Designer Virginie Viard was in raunchy mood for spring. The theme was the lens, and real photographers, including from The Associated Press, huddled around a red carpet podium freestyle instead of lining up in their normal scrum. Models posed theatrically, with inches of leg and midriff exposed. The scene prompted chuckles from Depp.