Tonight:
4°c
Welcome to the house of Chanel
Laura Craik3 Oct 2008
"Our house. In the middle of our street," sang Madness at the lovely Chanel show in Paris today. It was the perfect soundtrack: a song about the ordinary and the mundane that heightened just how out of the ordinary the house of Chanel is. Stock markets might rise and fall, but Chanel is unassailable: at least, this was the message it sought to put across.
Against a backdrop of the first Chanel store at rue Cambon, the show seemed at pains to emphasise Chanel's roots. Here was the classic wool bouclé jacket, in pale pink and lilac or reworked in graphic black and white checks with the sleeves lopped off.
Also new for spring 2009 was an ultra-cropped version falling to just below the bustline, emphasising the waist. Great if you are a flat-stomached model; one to avoid if you are barrel-shaped. For day, Lagerfeld's interest in street fashion came to the fore, with black hooded windcheaters, slouchy trousers and even a cream quilted leather guitar case providing young, contemporary twists.
But these were aberrations from the dressed-up, ladylike theme at the collection's core.
For day, slim tunic dresses fell to just above the knee, with volume provided by balloon-shaped sleeves. Some came with matching dustercoats, either in simple wool bouclé or embellished with jet beading and paillards. All were worn with two-tone tights that aped the effect of the cropped black leggings so popular among young girls today, as well as Mary Jane shoes with feathers at the heel that looked like spurs.
For evening, Lagerfeld went on a space odyssey, with silver lamé adding a futuristic feel. Gowns had full skirts, some festooned with frills and others with vaunting sleeves reminiscent of Princess Leia in Star Wars. No matter that some of the frilly cropped boleros looked like your grandmother's bed jackets: they were Chanel bed jackets.
But the biggest stroke of genius was the bags. Why design some convoluted It bag when you can simply rework the classic black and white Chanel carrier in silk and leather? And with the original paper versions usually on sale on eBay, this is one look that anyone can afford - provided it doesn't rain too heavily.
