Force féminine
Chanel creative director Virginie Viard pulls all around her into her orbit, as evidenced in the beguiling ’20/’21 Métiers d’art collection.
Since her appointment as Chanel’s artistic director, Virginie Viard has instilled an alluring and very modern femininity into her collections. It’s there in the flou – dresses that caress the silhouette and move with the wearer – the always-flattering flash of skin, and a reoccurring girlish palette that includes hints of sugary pink. But more than anything, it’s a certain élan that sometimes emerges when a stylish and insightful woman like Viard, designs for women. Much in the same way founder Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel had done.
Viard doubled down on this force of femininity for the Chanel ’20/’21 Métiers d’art collection. Held at the Château de Chenonceau last December (in front of an audience of one, Kristen Stewart, owing to Covid-19), the venue itself served as inspiration for Viard and artisans from the Métiers d’art maisons, which includes embroiderers, pleaters, shoemakers, hatters and costume jewellery craftsmen.
Known as the ‘Château des Dames’, the Château de Chenonceau was designed and occupied by women, including Diane de Poitiers, courtier and mistress to King Henry II, and then later, his wife, the ultimate renaissance woman Catherine de’ Medici, who reclaimed the castle from Poitiers after her husband’s death.
We don’t know if Gabrielle Chanel was influenced by renaissance women, but Catherine de’ Medici’s monogram of interlocking Cs – so like Chanel’s – are carved into one of the fireplaces in the castle. That, and the black-and-white chequered floor (Chanel’s emblematic palette), seemed to reel Viard in, and she used the legacy of this place and its architecture to conjure a collection rich in both storytelling and savoir faire – as harnessed by the Métiers d’art maisons. There were floor-sweeping dresses and frock coats fit for a queen, prim tweed ensembles with flourishes of hand embroidery, denim printed with flora inspired by the gardens, and decadent bijoux touches everywhere. “I like everything to be mixed up, all the different eras, between Renaissance and romanticism, between rock and something very girly, it is all very Chanel,” Viard said in the show notes.
Towards the end of the presentation, a tiered floor-length black tulle dress, adorned with a graphic motif of velvet ribbon punctuated with studs, captured all these touchstones, and more. Created by the house of Lemarié, the lattice-like pattern of the embroidery was inspired by the ironwork on the castle windows, while the ruffled cuffs and collar (a recurring theme throughout the collection) are a clear nod to Renaissance fashion. Yet, the addition of studs and sensual transparency render the dress completely modern. “We worked with a historic touch, but not too much,” says Christelle Kocher, the artistic director of Lemarié, as well as the founder of the Parisbased streetwear-inspired luxury brand Koché. “It is important for Virginie to keep the story and this craft very modern, connected to the present.”
Kocher has worked closely with Viard for 10 years and the two share a love of film and music – fruitful sources of inspiration as the theme evolved. “There are no rules, it is very free and Virginie is very open,” Kocher says of their collaborative process. To embark on this season, the young designer and her team of artisans took a trip to the chateau where they were captivated by the chequered flooring, which inspired the damier patterned bags – made from black-and-white ribbon and finessed with minute flowers fashioned from beads – and the woodlands, which inspired fringed leatherwork.
Maison Lemarié, founded in 1880, is one of the largest of the Metiers d’art maisons, housing flower and feather ateliers, pleating – with the help of the historic house of Lognon – as well as an atelier that realises complete haute couture creations. The collaboration between the different age-old expertise defines the alchemy of the Chanel Metiers d’art collections. Their neighbouring craftsmen at the house of Goossens were called upon this season for costume jewellery and small accessories, as well as enamel buttons. Employed since Gabrielle Chanel’s day, Goossens signature handcrafted brass bijoux appeared in the form of AirPod cases and credit card holders. “We like to play with the code and reinterpret them, but it is still a challenge as everything obviously has to be functional,” says director Gwenaëlle Créhalet.
At the embroidery house of Montex, artistic director Aska Yamashita and her team interpreted the Château des Dames theme in a distinct way. Montex embroideries are richly graphic and alive with colour; they work with sequins, crystals, chain and thread to elevate garments as works of art. For this season’s more whimsical floral embroideries, there are hints of the tapestries in the chateau. But the collection’s most jaw-dropping item – a cummerbund-style belt that captures all the magic of the mood and the métier – rendered the silhouette of the chateau in dazzling strass. One version is like a cartoon fairytale castle, while the other, a more abstract rendition, captures the castle at sunset – a symphony of colour and light winking in the reflection of the river below.
“It is important for Virginie to keep the story and this craft very modern, connected to the present”