Chanel/Cuba/Cruise
This was 2016’s most historic fashion moment
2016 was the year when fashion houses travelled abroad to stage extravagant
shows at the Niterói Museum in Rio, Westminster Abbey in London, and Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. As the cruise collections hit stores, bridging the gap between spring/summer and autumn/winter, we take an exclusive
look at this year’s most historic moment: Chanel in Cuba
4,661
MILES
FROM LONDON TO HAVANA WITH A FLIGHT TIME OF 680 MINUTES. BUT NO AEROPLANE COULD MATCH THE FLEET OF CLASSIC CARS (70 VINTAGE CHEVROLETS, CHRYSLERS, OLDSMOBILES, AND MORE) THAT TOOK THE FASHION CROWD TO THE HOTEL NACIONAL DE CUBA. 700VIP
GUESTS FLOWN IN, INCLUDING GISELE BÜNDCHEN, TILDA SWINTON AND VANESSA PARADIS. VIN DIESEL, SOMEWHAT SURPRISINGLY, WAS ALSO THERE. AND WHILE KANYE WEST AND KIM KARDASHIAN WEREN’T AT THE SHOW, THEY
MADE AN APPEARANCE ON THE ISLAND A DAY LATER. CIGAR SELFIES WERE INEVITABLE. 3ATELIERS
WORKED ON 86 LOOKS, FROM REIMAGININGS OF THE TWEED SUIT TO THE VIVA COCO LIBRE T-SHIRTS, FOR WHICH KARL LAGERFELD SENT SKETCHES 6 WEEKS BEFORE.
THIS PAGE (L-R) LILY WEARS: TWEED JACKET, £6,200, AND MATCHING TWEED SKIRT, £2,675, COTTON TOP, £610,
AND GOLD AND PEARL NECKLACE, £4,005,
ALL CHANEL. GOLD EARRINGS, MODEL’S OWN. ELIZA WEARS: COTTON TOP, £560, TWEED SKIRT, £3,470, AND GLASS AND
RESIN BELT, £3,540,
ALL CHANEL
44
PANAMA HATS AND 18 BERETS WORN. VERY FRENCH, BUT UNDENIABLY ‘CHE GUEVARA’. ULTIMATELY THOUGH, WHO COULD FORGET GISELE BÜNDCHEN RESEMBLING THE DANCING WOMAN EMOJI IN HER RED RUFFLED DRESS? 9,498
POSTS TO #CHANELCRUISECUBA – WITH LITTLE NEED FOR FILTERS – FOLLOWED BY MANY HOURS OF INSTAGRAM STALKING FOR THOSE NOT LUCKY ENOUGH TO SCORE AN INVITE. OUR FAVOURITE POSTS WERE VIDEOS OF THE CONGA AT THE SHOW’S FINALE ALONG THE PASEO DEL PRADO. 57YEARS
SINCE CUBA’S COMMUNIST REVOLUTION, THE
SHOW WAS A SIGN THAT THE NEXT GENERATION IS ON THE VANGUARD OF MOMENTOUS CHANGE. KARL LAGERFELD SAID
HIS CRUISE COLLECTION WAS INSPIRED BY THE ‘CULTURAL RICHNESS’
AND OPENING UP OF CUBA.