KING KARL TAKES HAMBURG

The prodigal son returns, as Karl Lagerfeld brings Chanel’s stunning Métiers d’art show to his hometown

‘“HAMBURG IS the gateway to the world, but it’s just a door – now get out of here.” And so I did,’ said Karl Lagerfeld, recalling his mother’s words to him before he left to conquer the Paris fashion scene and later become the world’s most recognisable fashion icon.

Last week, he returned to Hamburg, the northern German city where he was born in 1933, with an epic Chanel Métiers d’art show – a collection anchored in the nautical spirit of the town with its massive shipping port on the River Elbe.

Instantly, you could see how the clothes connected to the seafaring city. From the opening looks on male hunks, straight off the boat and on shore leave, lugging duffel bags crested with the CC logo and wearing sailor pants and huge billion-ply cashmere fisherman sweaters (which many of the female fashion audience clocked as must-buys), to the ever more luxurious versions of nautical attire for women. Sweater dresses glittered with sequins, there were sculpted tweed jackets with sailor collars, colour-blocked knitwear had been inspired by the city’s red-brick architecture, while woven tweeds recalled

dockside containers and officers’ coats in inky navy or slate greys depicted the harsh, cold, mist-filled December sky. All of it as cool as it was classic, and therefore madly, deeply wantable. But take a closer look and you see the mind-blowing disciplined detail – hair plaited like fishtails, anchor earrings, rope-laced shoes, thigh-high cable-knit legwarmer-boots, smudgy blue make-up to reflect the harbour’s water and baker-boy-sailor caps perched on every model’s head – and on much of the audience who had discovered them as a gift in their hotel rooms.

But this collection – which everyone agreed would go down in fashion history as one of Karl’s greatest hits – didn’t play out at the docks (that came later for the after-party, where sailors belted out sea shanties). Typically for Karl, the show took place at the uber-modern concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, constructed by cult architects Herzog & de Meuron with precipitous seating for 1,400 and an orchestra led by composer Oliver Coates of Radiohead fame.

‘It was so powerful, so unique, we’ve just witnessed something that can never be repeated,’ extolled Amanda Harlech, Karl’s creative collaborator of 21 years. ‘Fashion is about desire and I’ve watched the collection throughout the fittings, but tonight it took on another power – the place, the sound, the way the models trickled down from the gods on to the stage. If Hamburg is about music, water and the rhythm of life – this was it. And, yes, I want to wear it all.’

‘ What you have to remember,’ she added, ‘is that this is the only fashion house that has a Métiers d’art collection, which celebrates the excellence of the makers and the making of clothes.’ True. The revelling of the Chanel-owned couture specialist companies from Barrie (the Scottish knitwear makers) to Lesage (embroiderers), Goossens ( jewellers) and Maison Michel (the milliners behind the caps) is a window on to that world like no other.

But what was so striking here was that aside from the supercharged sound and venue, there was no extravaganza – no Chanel rocket launch pad or fully-stocked Chanel supermarket, no iceberg shipped in from the Antarctic. In short, no super-set to distract from the deepest respect for the craftsmanship of the clothes.

That the collection will have broad appeal when it hits stores in June was without question, judging by the comments from the star-studded stalls. Alongside Kristen Stewart, Lily-rose Depp and Tilda Swinton was the 20-year-old actress Ellie Bamber ( The Falling, Nocturnal Animals) dressed in blue sequinned Chanel couture, who watched the show with her grandma. ‘I absolutely loved it, incredible. For me, it reminds me of when I take on a character, in the same way Karl took on the character of the sailor but also the culture and personality of Hamburg,’ she said, adding that her eyes had locked on to the sparkly pea coat and the glistening black dress made to resemble miniature bricks. Alongside her, Tatjana Patitz, the German supermodel from Hamburg, now in her fifties, who modelled for Chanel back in the early 1990s: ‘In fact, I wasn’t a huge fan of doing shows, I only modelled in a handful, but of those, I always did Chanel.’ Asked what she would choose to wear: ‘Oh god, I loved the tailored coats, skirts and pants – I mean, it’s endless.’

It practically goes without saying that Karl received a standing ovation. A moment full of emotion. Perhaps even for Lagerfeld himself, although he’d never admit to it. The designer would hate to be thought of as a misty-eyed nostalgic; he has always claimed to never look back. ‘Karl is very much of the moment and the future, but showing in Hamburg and returning to his roots, maybe he can actually give himself permission to be proud and celebrate being him,’ pondered Amanda, noting, ‘He’s very like Hamburg – the trade, business, commerce – having a respect for that reality. As he always says, “I’m no class but working class.”’

Well, it was the first time any fashion legend has ever put on a show in Germany. Period. To have made the occasion all about the clothes and the single-minded pursuit of traditional craftsmanship with bang-up-to-now desirable designs was a stroke of genius. The clothes genuinely embodied the spirit of the city – steeped in history but embracing of the future. Just like Karl himself.

WE’VE JUST WITNESSED SOMETHING THAT CAN NEVER BE REPEATED