Karl Lagerfeld’s imaginarium transformed the Grand Palais into an exclusive Chanel Casino Royale on day three of Paris haute couture AW15.
By Christopher Prince
The Grand Palais, the most gargantuan exhibition space in Paris, has been home to some of Lagerfeld’s most outlandish dreams. A haute supermarché for example, a mechanical blooming couture garden or even a fully realised Chanel Boulevard, re-created down to the last street cobble. Yesterday called on a new attraction, the Chanel Casino Royale.
First arrived the velvet pantsuit-clad Kristen Stewart who sauntered to her private roulette table followed by a flock of Lagerfeld’s muses dressed head-to-toe in bespoke Chanel designs, from Lara Stone to Vanessa Paradis and Julianne Moore. The show’s signature was the iconic bouclé jacket – the defining strand of Gabrielle Chanel’s DNA. Lagerfeld reimagined it with 21st Century flair courtesy of a computer – affectionately nicknamed by his co-workers as Sweetie – whose laser techniques birthed new iterations of the famed wool insignia.
The subtext of marrying art with machine implied a different sensibility for Lagerfeld, one that was much darker and decadent that previously proposed. It could be felt in the heavy brows and harshly rouged cheeks of the models he presented, all of which were topped with exaggerated centre-parted wigs cut in bob shapes. The look vibed on Joan Crawford, especially when combined with Lagerfeld’s boxy silhouettes exaggerated in wide proportions via shoulder epaulettes.
As the show progressed that restriction gradually loosened up with pretty party dresses skirted in tulle and plumed with feathers or sequined in dramatic flapper-like shapes. By the time Kendall Jenner arrived in a veiled bridal pantsuit to close out the show the bets had already been made, and the victories were wholeheartedly won.
