Always the illusionist, Karl Lagerfeld once
again strategically cultivated and created the perfect atmosphere to work along
side and enhance the impact of his Fall Couture collection. Transporting his
audience effortlessly from the Grand Palais to an ancient theatre covered in
ruins and ashen with dust, Lagerfeld set the tone for his always elaborate
vision and distinctly cemented the underlying ideal of the collection- the need
for couture to resonate past the red carpet and relate on a more attainable
level.
‘The Old World and the
New World,’ was a couture collection of gradual, beautiful incline.
Accelerating from the dust on the seats and the falling debris, to the array of
intricate prints and layers of textures standing for and representing the
grandeur of couture in a less than ordinary approach, challenging the expected
and saluting the unconventional. Slowly moving from tweeds with, as Lagerfeld referred
to them, ‘the sparkle of stardust,’ into full-blown silver sheaths of
magnificence, the collection was based upon foundations of underlying,
unexpected glamour. The fabrics were laced with sheen and the patterns adorned
with mirrored mosaics, while thick black belts were strewn around the
waistlines of iridescent gowns. By highlighting the juxtaposition between the
old and the new and drawing on the past to create a vision of the future,
Lagerfeld made yet another, ‘new,’ idea fit the legendary mould of Chanel’s
beginnings.
“Chanel is an idea, not
a reality”- Karl Lagerfeld.
