At “terminal 2C” in Paris, flight attendants at the check-in desks went about their duties assisting hordes of glamorous passengers. Not that they were actually heading anywhere. This was the slick set of the Chanel fashion show and it was not lost on the audience that while this event was all about the clothes, in the real world, angry airline workers had been ripping the shirts from their bosses’ backs.
As has become customary at Chanel, the immersive catwalk experience paid strict attention to detail, with the tongue-in-cheek references delightful or predictable, depending on your point of view.
The set at Grand Palais included a large departure board featuring the destinations where the brand has held its recent resort fashion shows – from Dallas to Salzburg to Shanghai. Branded luggage trollies were abandoned by “Porte No 5”, while VIP guests were seated on rows of aluminium waiting-lounge chairs.
The set echoed that of recent Chanel shows, which have featured brasseries and supermarkets – the point being designer Karl Lagerfeld has the power to elevate the mundane into the desirable with a sprinkle of the Chanel-branding fairy dust.
The travel theme is an obvious one for the Parisian label. Lagerfeld, who travels by private jet, is a man of many time zones and he had clearly used his commute to work as inspiration.
Naturally Chanel’s version of airport chic relies more on the idealised glamour of air travel than the reality of a packed easyJet flight from Stansted. In previous seasons, the brand has treated its catwalk guests to a set suggesting the interior of a private jet. Tuesday’s played to the brand’s customers who have the wallets to be of an international class, with passport control and upper class lounge access a part of their everyday lives.
On the catwalk, the show opened with a pilot in a high-collared, double-breasted uniform wheeling his flight trolley through departures. Next came a model wearing a house tweed, retro cut trouser suit, which hinted at a time when air travel was glamorous.
Then the airport motifs came thick and fast. Cashmere jogging bottoms with a miniature plane print, departure board printed silks and tweed skirts that nodded to airline stewards’ uniforms.
Despite the heavy handed gimmickry, this was a particularly strong show by Lagerfeld and its styling was perfectly pitched. Tweed baseball caps, silver shoes, the layering of chiffon dresses over slouchy trousers and knitted ribbed trouser suits felt perfect for the modern street style look, as seen on the Instagram feeds of fashion’s elite. The chunky sandals whose soles featured flight path lights and the padded wheelie carry-on suitcases were guaranteed commercial gold.
The show came a week before the French brand brings its substantial marketing might to the UK. The label will stage a free exhibition, Mademoiselle Privé at the Saatchi gallery, which aims to highlight the origins of the Parisian house’s haute couture and jewellery collections for those who do not regularly attend its fashion shows. It promises to give insight into the irreverant personalities of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, and to remind potential customers what they might like to buy from the brand: be it haute couture or perfume.
