Paris – Karl Lagerfeld plumbed the ocean's depth for Chanel this season with a mermaid magic mode collection unveiled Tuesday, Oct. 4, in Paris' Grand Palais reinvented as a giant aquarium.

One entered an all white setting of Styrofoam whales, gigantic sea fauna, massive pebbles and a huge clam out of which emerged Florence Welsh, emoting in a dramatic ballad backed up by a rock harp.

And what worked best in the elegant opening was the pure ecru and white outfits, for this was a show practically bereft of Coco Chanel's signature look - the little black dress. Languidly cut and draped mini jackets, cocktails that billowed out below the waist and dimpled at the knee skirts all looked smart and spruce. Lagerfeld anchored all his models in space age silver sandals or Roman galley slaves booties that were quirky, but all the better for that.

Many dresses came with spines dotted with pearls like a siren emerging from the water. The models had whitened and jelled hair, finishing delicately with small pearls. Mini pearls also rimmed ears, perforated lips and tickled several models' inevitably tiny noses.

With some lovely visual puns, Lagerfeld sent out purses in the exact shape of money cowry shells - call it mollusk mode. The designer also developed a natty "soft shell crab" lightly padded leather bag which looks like a sure-fired bestseller.

For evening, Lagerfeld played with all sorts of aquatic references - from "seaweed" lace, i.e., shards of black fabric strips like Japanese hijiki used for drama on shoulders, to a striking off-white layered chiffon cocktail whose micro lines mimicked those of a bivalve.

So Chanel's German-born designer certainly went fishing in this spring 2012 collection. His catch was a rich haul of fresh shapes, clever aquatic visual puns and a memorably experimentally show.
POST : 2024-11-24    VIEW : 2332

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