Where style blooms
Spring flowers come in January for Chanel, writes Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup.
THE Grand Palais in Paris was transformed into the garden of a luxurious Mediterranean home to stage Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture collection recently. The guests’ chairs were positioned on clipped grass while a rectangular pool dominated the runway. Models walked on straight pathways designed in the style of 18th century French gardens.
Like in any garden, flowers played an important role in this collection. Floral themes were painted and appeared as embroidery and in lace, feathers, resin and even ceramic.
The clothes came in bouquets of pastel pink, green and blue as well as traditional tones of black, white, beige and navy blue.
“It’s a serene, ideal, timeless collection that’s absolutely now, with new shapes,” says Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld.
Those who attended the show included Chanel ambassadors Kristen Stewart (wearing gold ombre trousers), Pharrell Williams and Tilda Swinton. Actresses Tessa Thompson, Marion Cotillard and Kim
Go Eun were also on hand. SLENDER AND VOLUMINOUS
Worn with toe-covered strappy pumps, the garments mostly came in two silhouettes.
The first, long and slender with narrow mid-calf skirts — leg movement helped by slits and ruffled hemlines. The other, more flowing with voluminous shapes such as full skirts and balloon sleeves.
The neckline was often cut into a narrow deep V. Another construction detail was the collar or panel of a dress turned inside out or a rounded fold adorning a jacket, skirt or neckline to create volume and optical illusions.
Some jackets were lengthened like tunics, while others had no collar but a folded lapel. Some extended from a peplum shortened like spencer jackets, occasionally embellished with feathers. Some jackets adopted a double row of buttons.
On the dresses, reversed collars gave the impression of a bolero. A big dress with a pink lace skirt painted by hand had balloon sleeves and was finished with flat bows and ruffles, while another in hand-painted blue lace was embroidered with ribbons laid like stripes.
These dresses take up to 350 work hours to make and among the most extravagant was an organza dress embroidered with real flowers immortalised in resin while another was adorned with hand-painted ceramic flowers.
The finale was a sparkling bridal dress with a difference — the long white veil was traditional but the sequinned silver bathing suit and swimming hat which was paired with it was certainly not.