Okay, despite my having gone to the trouble of actually writing a post to explain why I can't be bothered posting about Paris Fashion Week until it's all over with, and thus more manageable, I have to make one teeny-tiny Karl Lagerfeld shaped exception.The Chanel shows are always a no-costs-spared theatrical delight for the real cream of the fashion crop. We are talking the really important people: the celebrities, the editors and basically the unfeasibly beautiful and elegant elite. This season was no exception. Even looking at the set for the show is more exciting than the entire collections at various other shows this season (mm-hmm Dior, i'm looking at you...)
The aquatic theme has been seen throughout the shows for SS12 amidst splashes of neoprene, swathes of iridescent sequins, coral prints creeping up gowns and beautiful marine shades trickling through the colour palette. We've watched as models walk in slippery leather pencil skirts with metallic dripping accessories, or let glassy sequins wave as they move. As always: Chanel did it not necessarily best, but certainly most notably.
The show was reminiscent of the time Lily Allen performed her sexy little deity "Not Fair" on the SS catwalk as models strutted around hay stacks in clogs and gingham. Only, this time they navigated large blinding white rocks and shell sculptures, interspersed with branches of white coral, wearing sport-luxe gleaming dresses and jackets with futuristic chelsea boots with a silver sheen. For 2012, Lily Allen was replaced by the haunting voice of the Chanel sweetheart Florence Welch singing "What the Water Gave Me" before emerging from a clam-shell, every inch the modern day mermaid, to float alongside Karl, sequins dripping to the ground.
The show was a million miles away from the futuristic grunge of last season, where it was all about androgynous yet endearing charcoal tweeds and biker boots. For SS12, the look evolved to something much more elegant and classically Chanel. Of course, that came with luxuriously modern touches that could only have come from Herr Lagerfeld.
Pearls pulled in the waists of gowns to keep the lightness Karl wanted, as little pearls scattered through model's swept up hair. The show allowed us Chanel devotees (I love the brand, can't afford to even browse the store without feeling poor and cheap) to indulge what we love about the fashion house- frothy couture touches with pleating and embroidery topped off with boxy jackets- as well as allowing us to see the new directions Karl is taking the age-old house in- namely technological advances in terms of textiles.
The colours were all creamy pastels, as is very much the look next season, with sea-foamy mint and pearly oyster pinks. Details edged in with black piping and a darker touch to stop the collection becoming all too "pretty" (and thus, boring). Beautiful shifts were decorated with translucent ribbons, swirling down the body like ethereal seaweed and couture touches transformed the models into fantastically alluring sea creatures. As far as accessories go, the metallic clutches and those dripping in shells and pearls are sure to be among the most covetable accessories of SS12, while the absence of high heels is worth taking note of!
While the clothes themselves are not totally groundbreaking or revolutionary, I will always be taken in by the Chanel spectacle, and one-day (please?) I hope to witness one first hand- not through this MacBook shaped portal to Paris Fashion Week... It's just not the same. The day that little Chanel invitation flitters on to my desk, my day/month/year will be made. Scrap that, actually: my life!
P.S
It seems my life has been taken over by Chanel of late... well... Chanel inspired things. Couldn't resist putting together a few of these pictures! Chanel-mania over here!
