CHANEL CRUISE COLLECTION 2014-15
Creating an idealised east
THE CHANEL CRUISE Collection 2014-15 arrives at the house’s Plaza Indonesia boutique in December. The collection, first unveiled during a lavish presentation set against the futuristic backdrop of Dubai, was designed by the brand’s legendary Creative Director, Karl Lagerfeld.
The more than 1,000 glamorous guests attending the launch included Chanel ambassadors Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Paradis, Anna Mouglalis, Alice Dellal and Zhou Xun. Also seen at the star-studded event were actresses Dakota Fanning, Freida Pinto, Elisa Sednaoui, Yasmine Hamdanet and Razane Jammal.
The fashion show’s first passage set an exquisitely daring and refined mood: a bolero jacket with voluminous sleeves embroidered with micro-sequins, a tweed playsuit belted at the waist and baggy pants in gold Lurex silk.
The classic suit is revisited in trompe-l’oeil threepieces composed of coat-dresses or tunics worn alternately with cigarette or baggy pants, sketching a new style that is both androgynous and feminine. The extra-large baggy pants in silk are accompanied with a jacket embroidered with neoprene camellias by Lemarié, or a tunic hemmed with Lesage embroidery
in powdered sequins, or a pleated blouse embellished with beads.
The geometric black and white of a kaftan tunic recalls patterns typical of Oriental art. A long dress in black linen with flared mid-length sleeves is adorned with multi-coloured embroidery by Atelier Montex. A tailcoat in tweed softens a bronze sequined dress.
The collection is ethereal, fluid and radiant. In a bold chromatic explosion, floral and geometric prints come together on dresses in silk chiffon, worn with cigarette trousers in cotton voile and knitted gilets in brilliant colours. There are magical variations around the emblematic eastern mosaic. The approach is free and confident.
For evening, long dresses trimmed with precious braiding or scintillating embroidery represented the Dubai skyline and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest man-made structure. Bejeweled plastrons decorate silk crepe dresses with pure and strict lines for an absolute elegance.
In this collection, Lagerfeld associates the emblematic palette of Chanel – white, black and beige – with fuchsia, midnight blue and carmine red. Meanwhile, sensual fabrics like lightweight tweed, silk chiffon, linen, gold lamé and cotton voile play with transparency and layering.
“It’s my idea of an idealised east, an east that is for everybody,” says Lagerfeld of his creations. “The influences are multiple: from fairy tales to film, from the paintings of Delacroix to the 1914 creations of Paul Poiret.”